Malice
by dontwaitupxx
Summary: In the aftermath of the Great Calamity, Link only remembered bits and pieces from before. Perhaps that was for the best. Zelda, however, remembered everything: memories that ached and stuck to her being like malice: oozing and burning. Following the Great Calamity, Hyrule experienced a time of mending and recovery: that is, until a Blood Moon pointed to Ganon's revival. (E3 theory)
1. Chapter 1

Malice

By: dontwaitupxx

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Chapter One

* * *

Zelda breathed in the cool Kakariko Village air and sighed. It had been one hundred years since she had felt air pass through her lungs, and the thought of it had once made her feel elated, following the final battle with Calamity Ganon. But now, days after, such mundane things felt almost overwhelming, saturated with memories of her once great Kingdom, now very nearly destroyed in the Calamity's aftermath. She knew they could rebuild; they could start from scratch and create a great kingdom, but it would not, nor ever be the Hyrule she once knew.

Following the battle, as she approached Link, she felt at a loss. What would she do now? For one hundred years, her purpose had been clear: keep Calamity Ganon at bay until the Hero's return. But he had returned; he had defeated Ganon, and now he was right in front of her, staring at her with a look of wonder and curiosity, but his eyes lacked recognition.

When she asked, "Do you really remember me?" she had hoped that his eyes would light up with that familiar spark, that he would smile and pull her into his embrace, and then she would know just one other person in this new world, and it would have all been worth it. But when his eyes went down towards the grass, not meeting her own, she realized that she was alone in this new world, with not even her same knight by her side.

He then grabbed her hand softly, and his calloused hand felt so familiar, her breath caught in her throat and she very nearly cried. He looked achingly the same, all the way down to the same Champion's tunic he wore one hundred years ago. Everything was the same, except his eyes, which lacked the love and friendship of another lifetime. He might as well have been a different man.

They walked across the plains of Hyrule, towards the castle, their hands still together, although held together loosely with no history. The castle loomed in front of them, dark and foreboding, even as the clouds parted and the sun began to shine. The malice coating the air was finally beginning to dissipate; yet Zelda still felt it coating her very being. The Sheikah structures surrounding the castle were now glowing a calming blue, the same color blue that dotted the landscape surrounding her on the shrines and towers. The castle though, she knew, was destroyed, having housed the Calamity for one hundred years too long. Towers and walls had crumbled, dirt and dust had accumulated, and the place that had felt like a home for so long now stood a prison. As they approached Hyrule Castle Town, she finally saw up close the horrors of the calamity; the entire town, a ghost of its former self, with nothing left save the outlines of the buildings, a few bare and broken walkways and what was once a beautiful and lovely fountain in the middle, destroyed, with pieces of metal broken off and melted from beams of fire.

She knew of the destruction of the Calamity. But she had never witnessed the aftermath first hand. She knew of visions she would see of her kingdom: towns destroyed, families dying, forests burning. But to see the destruction firsthand; to see the town quiet, calm, and empty sent a chill through Zelda she didn't recognize. They had defeated Calamity Ganon, but they were a far cry from saving the kingdom.

He looked up at her then, this time with a burning determination in his eyes, "I remember bits and pieces… fragments of our lives… from before. The past few months have been a blur to me… waking up in the shrine, barely even knowing my own name, and running around this kingdom, trying so desperately to save it and its people while I had really no idea what I was up against. But then I would hear your voice, from the castle…" He grabbed her other hand, squeezing, "and if there's one thing I know, it's that every memory I recalled, every smell and taste and touch that brought me back to the man I used to be only pushed me forward, and any time I remembered you, or something about you, I knew that it would all be worth it…" he paused, licking his lips, "I still don't remember much… really nothing at all. But I would like nothing more than to stay at your side, to continue being your knight… and to help you rebuild… if you would have me."

She wasn't sure what was appropriate, given the circumstances. But there was no one surrounding them for miles, as she would soon come to realize the castle had a severe radius around it. She stepped forward and tucked her head under Link's chin, wrapping her arms around her knight. She felt him tentatively wrap his arms around her waist, like he wasn't sure if he could, and like a dam bursting, she felt herself lose control of herself and sobbed into his chest.

They had survived; they had won, but at what cost? The Calamity had destroyed everything, and there was virtually nothing left in Central Hyrule except the husk of the castle. Towns and villages and farms were destroyed; families and friends murdered by the agents of Calamity Ganon. Hyrule Castle Town had been completely flattened, and countless other towns and settlements had been wiped out; lost to nature and forgotten in memory.

She cried for the Hyrule that once was, and that never would be. She cried for her father, for the Champions, for her guards and servants and villagers and townspeople and farmers and children and life that could never be replaced. She cried for the man holding her and for the man he used to be: both the same yet entirely different. And she cried for herself, Princess Zelda of Hyrule, that it took so long for her powers to awaken; that she was all alone in her kingdom that she did not recognize.

Abruptly, she pulled away from him, and composed herself, wiping the tears away and standing up straighter, "Let's be off then. It's useless to stand here and mourn for what's gone. I've had the better part of a century for that," she said with the ghost of a smile on her face, "Besides, there are better ways to honor the fallen. There's no use in trying to build the Hyrule that once was," she said, holding down the sob that was bubbling in her chest, "Let's start towards Kakariko Village… I should like to see my old friend Impa again."

She turned and walked away from her castle, her kingdom, her old life. Link, unsure of what to do or where to walk, walked a safe few paces behind his princess. Staring out at the plains in front of her, with her knight behind her and no other life for miles, Zelda's breath shuddered. She stopped abruptly, and turned her head back towards Link, "Please… if you don't mind, I would very much like it if you walked beside me." He grabbed her hand again, softly, and she held onto it like the only lifeline back to her old life.

Carefully, they walked back towards Link's horse. Neither one said much after that. After a lifetime of waiting, neither one had much to say. When she had imagined this moment countless times over the course of the century, she imagined running back to her knight with smiles and kisses and endless laughter and conversation because the Calamity was gone and they had won. But of course, she knew from the moment that he woke up in the Shrine of Resurrection that his memory had been compromised, and any hopes or dreams she had of a future with him would now be impossible to achieve.

Of course, they had never been anything more than princess and knight before the Calamity. Nothing had ever happened between them. Except, of course, longing glances and slight brushes against one another and dreams she had, and perhaps he had to, that she would explore after the Calamity, after her powers awakened, after he sealed Ganon away for good, preferably not _after_ one hundred years.

Of course, things never turn out like you planned for them to be.

And so, even after a century of fighting, and then finally winning, Zelda still felt like she had lost.

As they approached Link's horse, Link fell behind Zelda slightly, and without asking or waiting for permission, he grabbed her waist gently, firmly, and lifted her up onto the horse's saddle, her prayer dress billowing out on the sides of the horse. He then climbed on behind her, reaching around her waist for the reins, and wasted no time in heading towards Kakariko Village. She felt his arms around her, holding the reins, and felt his back behind her, feeling his breath on her shoulder and neck, and if she closed her eyes, she could very nearly pretend that everything was okay.

Opening her eyes, she observed as they went past the Sacred Grounds, past the ruins of Mabe Village and of countless farms and ranches, all dotted with the empty husks of the Guardian automations, once meant to be their defense against the Calamity, but turned out to be the very thing that tipped the odds in Ganon's favor. They went on, past Mabe Prairie and towards the Whistling Hill, past ruins and more ruins and more ruins. Ahead, she saw the outline of the Great Plateau, and the structure of the Temple of Time. If she squinted, she could pretend it hadn't fallen to the Calamity as well.

They finally came to the Proxim Bridge, which would take them across Hylia River and away from the carved out heart of Hyrule. Zelda turned back towards the castle, and Link halted his horse, leaning a little to his right so Zelda could turn fully. Link looked up at her, and saw a look of purpose in her eyes, a look of hope and determination, as any princess tasked with the mission of rebuilding her kingdom would. But underneath it, he saw the slightest hints of doubt, of worry, of regret.

He cleared his throat, "Princess… if I may, _that's_ not your kingdom… your kingdom, your _people_… they're all out here," he gestured across the bridge, towards where the outline of a stable was, with a small billow of smoke coming from a fire pit, or a fireplace, or _something_ that was proof of people living and truly living, and not from destruction, "while we did not get away without any casualties, your people did live on. They migrated outwards, they joined existing villages, they created new settlements, they had children, and those children had children, and they lived their lives. Some may even say they were pretty good lives." He smiled slightly, grabbing the reins again and spurring his horse forward into a gentle trot, "Of course, that's not to say that they lived lives without hardship… but your kingdom does live on, princess."

They began to cross the Proxim Bridge, the sounds under the horse's hooves clacking against the stone. They were both silent for much after that. They left the castle behind them, the sun shining above them as they headed down the weathered road towards Kakariko Village.

As they passed through the Dueling Peaks, an uneasy feeling settled in the pit of her stomach. She knew where she was, and she knew what was beyond the mountains. Beyond the mountains lived the scene of the worst day of her life, a day that replayed countless times in her head while in the castle, burning and clawing at her, silently whispering that had she awakened her powers sooner, this could have been avoided. It was her fault. Her fault. _Her fault._

As they emerged from the mountains, she saw what looked to be a new settlement; an inn and stable, and beyond that, the ruins of Blatchery Plain.

They rode past the settlement, and then Zelda saw them: the tens of hundreds of Guardians that were littered across that plain. It was raining; cold and bitter, and they had been running, and running, and running for who knows how long, and their clothes were soaked and their shoes were caked with mud, and they were so out of breath, and were sweating despite the cold and rain, but they wouldn't stop; they couldn't stop. The Guardians had caught up with them, then, and they had to go, they had to run, keep running, until they lost them.

"Get behind me," Link had said, pushing her behind him, as the Guardians began crawling towards them, pulsing red with malice, their machinery whirling and their eyes glowing bright blue. The air surrounding them pulsed red, making the already humid air thick and nearly impossible to breathe. Link had unsheathed the Master Sword, and leaped towards the first one, swinging the Master Sword, the blade hitting the shell of the Guardian uselessly. One of its claws swiped at Link, and Zelda saw him fly ten feet away before he hit the ground hard, his tunic sporting two claw marks with red gashes staining the blue.

He stood up, leaning on the sword for support, and ran at the Guardian again, barreling out of the way as a beam of fire shot at where his feet were not a second earlier. He then flipped himself on top of the Guardian, taking the Master Sword in both hands and plunging it into the eye of the Guardian. The machinery whirled for a second, until it exploded with a puff of smoke, with Link being catapulted off it back and slammed into a nearby rock.

"Link!" Zelda ran over to Link, trying to help him up. Link swayed on his feet slightly, before shaking his head, "I'm alright. Stay back!" And he ran back in, grabbing his sword off the ground and running to the next Guardian.

This went on for hours, or maybe it was only minutes, but before long, Link had defeated countless Guardians, but there were still so many of them crawling around, their machinery whirling, tracking them, finding them. Looking off towards the Dueling Peaks, they could see every few seconds more of the automations crawling in, eager to find them.

Following one particular Guardian, Link fell to the ground, panting. Zelda cried out and ran towards him. She knelt beside him, trying to get him to stand up. He knelt there, clutching his side, his Master Sword buried in the ground for support.

"Link, let me see," Zelda reached out and touched his side, and he hissed in pain. Zelda pulled back, only to realize that her hand was covered in blood, _his _blood. He was losing a lot of blood, and fast. She saw he had gashes along his arms, torso, and his head. His gaze looked unfocused.

It didn't matter how many Link defeated; there would always be more coming to get them. And Zelda wasn't sure how much longer Link would be able to last. They were both soaked to the bone, and covered in dirt and mud. Zelda needed Link to live; he had to live to fight another day to take down Ganon, and any moment, one of the Guardians was going to find them, and whether it was that one or the next one, or the one after that, one of them was going to be the last Guardian Link faced before he couldn't get up again.

"Link save yourself!"

He had to get out of here.

"Go!"

He wasn't leaving.

"I'll be fine, don't worry about me."

The whirling of the automations was getting louder, closer.

"_Run!"_

He didn't run. Instead, he hauled himself up again, as he had been doing. He stumbled backwards, his vision blackening and spinning. Over the husks of the dead Guardians came a new Guardian, machinery spinning and groaning as it finally found them. Zelda gasped, a new wave of panic coming over her as Link swayed and nearly lost his footing in front of her. The Guardian climbed on top of the husks of its fallen comrades and looked down upon them, haunting and intimidating. It readied its laser, beeping and buzzing, and Zelda saw Link stand there, not running up the sides of the dead automations to take a stab at the Guardian, not grabbing her hand and making a run for it. He stood there, in silent defeat, and Zelda realized this was it: they were going to die. Hyrule's one shot against Calamity Ganon was going to die. Link was going to die.

_Link _was going to die.

"No!" Zelda pushed herself in front of Link, and felt an unfamiliar sensation run through her. She saw herself put her hand out in front of her, and saw the Goddess' power rise from her. In that moment, she was surrounded by a bright, blinding yellow glow, and she had to close her eyes to shield herself from it. She felt the divine power flowing through her body, and she knew instinctually that this was the divine power she had strived for so long to find.

It ended as quickly as it happened, and she looked up and saw the red pulsing light of the Guardian in front of her. Had she really done it? Had she really awakened her powers? And if she did… did it even do anything? Or had it all been for nothing?

The red light on the Guardian began to flicker, and she saw the automation begin to power down. She heard the groans of the other Guardians in the area, and she knew that the other Guardians in the plain were powering down too. She then saw a smoke of Malice puff out of the Guardian in front of her, before it became a husk of a shell and died down, nearly toppling over in the process. The other Guardians followed suit, their metal bodies hitting the ground, squelching under the mud, Ganon's influence being stripped away from them forever, evaporating into thin air.

She felt her arm fall, her senses coming back to her in a rush, "Was… was that… the power…" she gasped, staring at her hand, her breaths coming in staggered.

From behind her, Zelda heard something else hit the ground, the mud making a light splattering noise.

She turned around and saw Link lying in the mud, eyes closed, barely breathing, and it was a sight that would haunt her for the next hundred years.

"No… no," she ran to him, leaning beside him, shaking him, "Link, wake up!" Her vision blurred, and she vaguely realized that she was crying. She lifted his head up into her lap, and he coughed, blood spattering around his lips, and she gasped, "You're going to be just fine…" She looked into his eyes and saw a finality about them, and before she could protest or say anything else, his head rolled to the side, and his eyes closed, and his chest stopped moving, and she lost him.

He wasn't moving and she couldn't stop shaking, and she cried into his chest, and a touch on her arm brought her back to reality where Link was there, living and breathing and warm.

They had been riding past the plains, almost to Kakariko Bridge when Zelda had begun shaking, and her breathing became uneven, and no matter how many times Link said her name, she wouldn't stop staring at the plains, her head shaking, her hands gripping knots into the horse's hair.

He stopped his horse and touched her arm, and her head snapped towards him, eyes full of tears and she fell apart, collapsing in his arms. He grabbed her and carefully slid them off his horse, carrying her over towards the mountainside, away from the Guardians and away from her memories. He cradled her in his lap in the shade the Dueling Peaks, and she held onto him for dear life, sobs wracking her tiny frame as she held onto the only familiar thing she knew of in her unfamiliar new world.

Link gently rocked her, rubbing small circles in her back. A few moments passed like this before he spoke up, "I remember it too." Zelda froze, and looked up at Link, her eyes red and puffy, and she saw that he had been crying as well.

"I don't remember much… but that I do remember… sometimes I wish I didn't," he laughed, bitterly, "It was one of the last things I remembered before I went to Hyrule Castle to defeat Ganon…" He shifted himself, tucking Zelda's head under his chin. She felt his heartbeat and him breathing, and closed her eyes, "I had freed all four Divine Beasts… and I had gone to Kakariko Village to seek advice from Impa before I left. And she told me there was one more memory I needed to recover before I went to the castle…" his voice shuddered, "and it was here. As I walked among the Guardians, the memories of that day hit me, every sound, taste, feeling, everything. I remember fighting, and how I kept fighting, because I would have rather died than lose you. I was so afraid…"

He held her tightly, and they stayed like that for a while. Link pressed his lips to her temple, a light kiss as they cried. It wasn't anything romantic; it was safe, comforting, _familiar._ Link only remembered bits and pieces from before the Great Calamity. Perhaps that was for the best. But they did share some of the same demons, and for that, they had each other to hold onto.

They soon after carried onto Kakariko Village, passing the bridge and up the mountainside into the quiet little village. By the time they arrived, it was very late, and yet as they approached Impa's house, they saw the door crack open as they approached the house, and an old friend grinned at them from the top of the stairs.

Old friends embraced, and promised to catch up in the morning, after they all went to sleep.

_Sleep._ How, after one hundred years, after everything that happened, would Zelda be able to get any _sleep_. She didn't know. But she nodded and smiled, and together, her and Link went to the inn and went their separate ways to their rooms.

Link had offered her a pair of his trousers and one of his shirts to sleep in, and though it was a little big on her, it would do much better than her prayer dress. As she shut her door and began to change in the small room, she saw briefly what she thought was malice in the air. It began to suffocate her, as the walls to the room began to shrink, closing in on her. She gasped and shook her head. The malice was gone. The walls were stationary. She was fine.

She quickly changed and opened the window in her room to get some fresh air. She lied down on the bed, knowing that sleep would be good for her, but every time she closed her eyes, she saw _him_, flying around her castle, _him_, fighting against her constraint, _him_, destroying her people, her lands, her kingdom.

She opened her eyes, and quickly got up, running her hands through her hair. She would not be getting any sleep that night.

She looked out her window. It was a beautiful night. The sky was clear, the stars were bright, the moon shined _white_ and not _red… _she climbed out onto her windowsill and lifted herself up and out, onto the roof of the inn.

Zelda breathed in the cool Kakariko Village air and sighed. It had been one hundred years since she had felt air pass through her lungs, and the thought of it had once made her feel elated, following the final battle with Calamity Ganon. But now, it just felt like malice.


	2. Chapter 2

Malice

By: dontwaitupxx

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Chapter Two

* * *

The sun was beginning to peak over the horizon. It was early, still very early, however, the Kakariko villagers would soon be beginning their day. And Zelda was still on the roof of the inn, having not slept a wink. She was tired, sure, but the thought of closing her eyes and seeing the malice or seeing Calamity Ganon or seeing her kingdom in flames or seeing her knight _fall_ filled her with anxiety; so she didn't.

But she knew that seeing the princess on the roof of the inn would fill the village with more questions than answers, so she slowly, carefully, lifted herself up onto her arms and slid back into her window at the inn. Her kingdom had enough to worry about, even with the threat of Calamity Ganon eradicated. No reason to give them any cause for concern.

She sat down on her bed and put her head in her hands. There was so much that needed to be done; so much that needed to be rebuilt, or demolished completely, a monarchy to reestablish, villages to visit, people and subjects to listen to, and she didn't know where to start. After a century locked in battle in the castle, within its confined walls, it was overwhelming for her to think about everything she would need to do in this vast new world. Zelda knew she could do it, though it would be easier if she had a castle of trustees and advisors and her _father._

Her father… she had a century to mourn his loss, and yet the wound was still fresh; it still felt like it was only yesterday. First her mother, and then her father and all of Hyrule… she truly didn't have anyone left, save for a man with a very limited memory of her.

Zelda stood up and went about getting ready for the day, until she realized she didn't have anything to wear that day. She had the shirt and trousers that Link had let her borrow that night, and her soiled prayer dress, but that was it. As far as she was concerned, that dress could be burned in the fireplace for all she cared, so she stayed in the shirt and trousers from Link. She only had her sandals, however, no other shoes. She made a mental note to stop in town later that day for a pair of boots.

She pulled her hair back into a loose braid and tied it off. She made towards the door of her room, and opened it, only to become face to face with her knight himself, his hand lifted beside his head in a fist, as though he were seconds away from knocking on her door.

Startled, slightly, Zelda took a step back, "Link – I – um…" she stumbled, her heart pounding.

"Sorry, princess, I um…" Link lowered his hand, collecting himself, "I was going to head downstairs and make some breakfast. I wanted to know if you would join me."

Zelda couldn't remember the last time she actually _ate_… she hadn't eaten anything yesterday, after Link had defeated Calamity Ganon, and then before that… well the Goddess Hylia had provided for her the hundred years before.

Had it really only been yesterday that Link had defeated Calamity Ganon? Yesterday, he stormed the castle, wielding the Master Sword, threatening, dangerous, taking down Bokoblins and Moblins and Guardians and finally Ganon, and here today, he was the same man, but his eyes were softer from sleep, his hair messy and unkempt, while the Master Sword remained sheathed on his back.

She looked up at Link and smiled, "Yes, I'll be down in just a minute."

Link turned to leave, but as he did, his eyes lingered on Zelda's face for a moment longer than he normally would have, his eyes narrowing slightly as he studied her face in passing. If he was thinking something, he didn't voice it, and instead moved to walk down the hallway and to the stairs down into the main room of the inn.

Once he was out of sight and out of earshot, Zelda pushed her door closed, and slid down the back of it, her thoughts overwhelming her. When was she going to get used to this? When was she going to discover her new normal? All she wanted was to just short of tackle Link and have him hold her and say those magical words, "I remember". But that was a fantasy reserved for fairytales.

She stood up and looked into the mirror in her room, noticing the exhaustion that was clear on her face, the indents under her eyes being more pronounced and her eyes rimmed with a slight bloodshot red. She felt like she had to prove herself all over again, which was partially accurate, seeing as most of the people in the world were not even alive yet when she was living in the castle one hundred years ago. The only people alive that would remember her were a few select Sheikah, the Zora, and Link, in fragments. Her people had been effectively ruling themselves for the past century; who was she to impose herself on them?

She felt like she had to prove herself again to _Link_, and she knew that anything short of the friendship she had with him one hundred years ago would make her ache with the loss of what she once had. It was so hard when all she wanted to do was pick up where they left off.

She splashed some water on her face, the cold water startling, shaking her senses, making her feel infinitely more alert. She could do this. She had a meeting with Impa that morning after breakfast, and the thought of being able to speak freely with someone that understood what she was going through was enough to give Zelda the courage to go downstairs and face the day… and Link.

She could do this.

* * *

A couple of hours later found Zelda sitting in front of her oldest friend, both in longevity and in actual age. Rationally, she had known that after one hundred years, her oldest friend would be… well, old. However, seeing her up close for the first time in a century, seeing the firm, deep creases on her face that held years of pain and worry and laughter and happiness and _memories_ filled Zelda with a sense of deep regret and sadness. She had missed one hundred years, and Impa was old and wouldn't be around forever. But it was her eyes that made Zelda want to cry, but not in a sad way. She saw the fire in Impa's eyes, the memories and the recognition and the friendship that she had been craving. No matter the years between them, she was still Impa.

Impa was the first to speak, "I had no doubt in my mind that I would see you again, princess," She spoke, her voice grainy and rough from her years, "My only regret is that it would take so long."

Zelda smiled softly at Impa, "It's good to see you too."

"I have to say," Impa continued, "One hundred years is quite a long time. The world has changed, inevitably so, yet you, princess, look not a day older than I remember," Impa paused, studying her, "What do you plan to do, now that Calamity Ganon has been defeated?"

"I plan to rebuild Hyrule, and reestablish the monarchy," Zelda answered, sitting up straighter on the floor of Impa's house, "I know it will not be the same Hyrule, but I believe that if we all work together, we can rebuild a new Hyrule from the ashes."

"And you plan to do that with that knight of yours." It wasn't a question. Impa was stating a fact.

Zelda smiled, "Yes. He has told me that there is nothing more he wants to do than to stay at my side and help rebuild the kingdom."

Impa let out a short, dry laugh, "That sounds just like him… you know, for a man that only remembers bits and pieces from his life before the Great Calamity, there are some things about him that will never change… some very essential things."

Zelda's brow furrowed slightly, "What do you mean?"

This time, Impa let out a hearty laugh, and it took Zelda back to her friend from a century before, "You'll come to understand in due time, princess. Now…" Impa trailed off, studying the princess, "Let's talk about you; more specifically, your well-being. How are you faring, princess?"

"I'm doing well," Zelda answered, a little stiffly, though she hoped Impa didn't notice, "After fighting Ganon for one hundred years, it feels wonderful to finally be able to rest."

"You mean how you didn't rest last night, and were on the roof of the inn until sunrise?" Impa interrogated.

Zelda gasped, trying to collect herself, "I just – I… How did you know?"

Impa gave her a wry smile, "I may be old, but before I am old, I am Sheikah… of course I knew. Also," Impa continued, "It is written all over your face. You look like a princess that has not slept in a century. Which is false: now it is a century and one day. So I'll ask again, princess: How are you faring?"

Zelda sighed, her shoulders slumping forward, "Impa… it's all just so overwhelming. I fought the Calamity for the past one hundred years, and I am finally back, but the world is so different. Everything is gone, none of the people are the same… so many people _died_ because I couldn't figure out how to awaken my powers in time… the champions… my _father…"_ Zelda trailed off, a sob threatening to escape.

"And princess, if I may," Impa intervened, "Do you happen to know what it was that unlocked your powers in the first place?"

Zelda had spent the last century contemplating that question, and yet, "I'm not sure. My powers were awakened at the battle against the guardians at Fort Hateno on the Blatchery Plain…" Zelda gulped, "and _Link _had been fighting the guardians, and he was so badly hurt… I was so scared of losing him, and in the moment when I thought that we were going to lose and he was going to _die…_ the powers were then awakened."

"Did you realize in that moment that you loved your knight?"

Zelda froze. Impa was just diving right in.

Impa started cackling, "Oh come now, child, even a blind man could see the way you looked at your knight. Even if you didn't realize it, everything you would come to do following that day would be motivated by that one fact. It's what kept you strong for one hundred years, isn't it?"

Zelda nodded, faintly, "Yes."

"While I cannot say if the man we see today feels the same way about you, I can confidently say that the both of you are going to need each other desperately as you both cope with the aftermath of the Calamity. The events you both went through are things that no person should ever have to go through. You'll both need to help each other. He is the only one alive that knows a fraction of the demons that haunt you, and you to him." Impa paused, "And while I thank you for being honest with me thus far, I feel there is more that ails you."

Zelda sighed, her hands shaking slightly in her lap, "Even though we won… it still feels like I have lost. And when I close my eyes… I see _him_, I feel his malice around me, engulfing me. It almost feels like this is a dream, and that we haven't actually won. So what can I do?"

"You fight, princess," Impa said, a fiery look in her eyes, "You fight like hell. You hold onto the people in your life and you fight these demons. You give yourself time to _rest, _and heal and cope. And to do that… I suggest that you hold off on rebuilding Hyrule."

Zelda frowned, "But I have to… how will Hyrule ever-"

"Hyrule has survived the past one hundred years without a monarch ruling over it, and it can survive a few more while its future queen focuses on rebuilding herself so that way the kingdom will _have_ a future queen." Impa said, and then in a softer tone, "The road moving forward is not going to be easy. But if anyone is strong enough, it's you, princess," Impa smiled, "And I hope you know that the doors here in Kakariko Village are always open to you."

A sad smile reached Zelda's lips, her eyes crinkling slightly, "Thank you, Impa," She looked down at her knees, and saw the old trousers and shirt that Link had lent her the night before. A real smile began to creep on her face, and she looked at her old friend once more, "Impa… you remember when I gave you Link's Champion tunic one hundred years ago? You wouldn't happen to still have mine, would you?"

* * *

Zelda laced up her boots and stood up in her blue Champion's tunic, riding pants, and boots. For at least that moment, she felt like her old self again.

She bounded out of Impa's house, down the stairs, almost with glee. Regardless of how small of a token it was, the fact that Impa had held onto her Champion's tunic for one hundred years meant the world to her. It was a small, tangible piece of her life that she could hold onto. It wasn't much, but it was something.

As she reached the bottom of the stairs, she took a sharp right, and nearly smacked into a young woman around her own height, tending to the guardian deities outside of Impa's house. The young woman had strikingly white hair, as the Sheikah all did, and it was tied up into a very intricate bun. She looked first at her blue Champion's tunic, then finally looked to Zelda's face, her eyes becoming as wide as saucers.

"P-p-princess Zelda! I did not mean to run into you, I'm so sorry!"

"Run into me?" Zelda asked, "On the contrary, I think it was I who ran into you. I wasn't looking where I was going. And…" She paused, thinking about what Impa had advised her of before. If she were to hold off on building Hyrule, she wouldn't necessarily be princess, "Please: call me Zelda."

Rather than an answer, the young woman simply nodded twice, and bounded up the stairs towards Impa's house, slamming the door behind her, loudly.

…That was strange.

Zelda continued on towards the inn, but up ahead, she saw Link sitting down on a log by the general store, tending to the Master Sword. As she approached, he looked up at her, and seeing her in her Champions tunic, smiled and stood up to greet her.

"Now _there's_ the princess I remember."

Zelda laughed, "Of that you can remember… and please, call me Zelda."

Link nodded, "I can do that," He paused, studying her face, having the same look on his face as he had that morning at the inn. Slowly, taking a deep breath, he asked, "Zelda, are you okay?"

Zelda, in response, sat down on the ground beside the log. Link, rather than sitting down on the log, sat down in front of her on the ground, cross-legged, "You know," Zelda began, "Impa asked me the same question when I met with her today."

"And what did you say?"

Zelda bit her lip. There was a lot that was said with Impa about her very knight right in front of her, and a lot of it were things she didn't exactly want to throw out on the table, "I'm struggling. It feels like I'm still being haunted by Ganon."

"Zelda, it's only been a day. This time yesterday we were literally fighting Ganon. It's okay to feel this way."

"Impa also thinks I should hold off on rebuilding Hyrule."

"I happen to agree with Impa."

Zelda's head snapped towards her knight, where he was sitting across from her, looking at her with a firm look on his face, "You just said yesterday that you would help me rebuild Hyrule."

"And in due time, princess, I will."

"My name is Zelda."

"Okay, _Zelda_, in due time I will help you rebuild, but in the aftermath of the Calamity, while everyone is still picking up the pieces, I think you should slow down."

Zelda paused, thinking back to an earlier thought of hers, "Do you… do you think my people _want_ to be governed by the royal family? It's like what Impa said, they have all been governing themselves for the past one hundred years."

Link sighed, taking one of her hands in his, "I don't know. While I was freeing the Divine Beasts, I travelled all across Hyrule to the different towns and cities. The problem at the moment… is there's not much left to govern. The only towns left with Hylians are Hateno Village and Lurelin Village… and then, of course, the Sheikah here in Kakariko Village. But other than that the Hylians were all but wiped out in the Calamity. The Zora have been governing themselves in Zora's Domain the past one hundred years, and quite frankly, are prospering, as well as the Goron's in Goron City and the Gerudo in Gerudo Town." Link paused, looking up at Zelda, "But I think you should know that your people have already begun to rebuild. Up in the Akkala region, a new town has been built from the ground up. It's called Tarrey Town, and it features people from all the different races here in Hyrule… and from what I've heard, more people want to create villages like that. Your people will do the rebuilding for you." Link took her other hand, a look of concern in his eyes, "Zelda, you've been fighting for one hundred years straight. It's okay to take a break. No one is going to fault you for it."

"You talk more now than you used to."

Link was taken aback, pulling his hands from hers, "I'm sorry?"

Zelda laughed, standing up and brushing off the grass and dirt from her pants, "I don't mean it in a bad way, just observing. One hundred years ago, you were seldom to say anything. It wasn't until you were long into my service and right upon the dawn of the Great Calamity that you truly began to open up to me. Now, you have a vague outline of memories of our friendship, and yet you speak and talk like a different man."

"I am a different man."

"I know… and I'm coming to realize that it's okay." Zelda held out one of her hands for Link. He grabbed it, and she hoisted him up off the ground. Their hands lingered together for a second longer than they should have before they let go.

"So you've travelled all across this new Hyrule, huh?" Zelda started, walking a few steps away from him.

"Yeah, I have."

"And you have met a lot of people on your travels, haven't you?"

"What are you getting at?"

Zelda turned towards him, "Do you happen to know who that girl is over by Impa's house? She seemed so flustered when I spoke to her."

Link's hand went to his face, and he sighed, "Oh damn it all, what did she say to you?"

"What?"

"What?"

"Well she didn't really say much to me," Zelda started, taking a few steps towards him, "She realized who I was and then bounded up the stairs. What did you think just now that she said to me?"

"Nothing."

"No, it is definitely something!"

"Zelda -"

"_Link."_

Link took a few steps away, rubbing his hand on his face, which was getting redder by the second, before turning back to her "Okay, her name is Paya, and she is Impa's granddaughter. And well, she - oh, Hylia, how do I say this? - she has the biggest crush on me."

Zelda's stomach dropped, though she did her best to keep her composure, "Oh? So she told you?"

Link stammered, incredibly out of character for him, "Well no, I just -"

"Then how do you know she likes you?"

Link's cheeks were going red, "What I mean is… I might have…" and the rest was mumbled under his breath.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" Zelda questioned, taking a step towards him.

Link signed, looking up, "Skies, I might have read her _diary."_

"Link!" Zelda reprimanded, "You read the poor girl's _diary?_ That's an invasion of her privacy!"

Link's face dropped, looking much more guilty than the situation called for. Link plumped down on the log, "Well she had it just _laying out_, and I knew that I shouldn't have read it, and yet... Anyways, she has the biggest crush on me. I was afraid that she had said something… I don't know, _petty_, to you."

Zelda burst out laughing, despite it all. Link was fully red in the face, and he wouldn't even look in her direction, "That hardly seems like something Paya would do, she seems as dainty as a flower!"

"Well, _yes,_ I'm now realizing how absurd that thought was."

"And do you return her feelings?"

Zelda kept a straight face while she asked this. She had to know, because Link _was _a different man, and it didn't matter what dreams they might have had together a century prior. He had lived for months prior his one hundred year sleep, and had known other people for much longer than he knew her. He essentially knew her for one day. That was not long enough for someone to fall in love.

Link sighed, rubbing his face, "Paya is a sweet girl, but I don't feel that way towards her," he grinned, wryly, "I don't know if you've noticed, _princess_, but as the _hero_, I've just been a little bit preoccupied the past couple of months, you know…"

Zelda playfully slapped his arm and laughed. Part of her felt relieved. This felt normal. This felt like a fragment of the friendship she once had with Link. She didn't know for certain, but the fact that they were able to joke about the calamity and their struggles made her think that maybe they were going to be okay.

Perhaps they could pick up where they left off.

They both parted soon after that, and Zelda soon found herself on the outskirts of town, overlooking the Rikoka Hills, looking at her castle. From the distance away, it almost seemed whole; complete. But looking ahead of it, she saw the plains of town ruins, which could not hide its destruction as well. She thought back to what Link had said earlier, about how Hateno Village and Lurelin Village were the only two Hylian towns left. Hyrule Field used to be home to so many villages and ranches, different government and military structures, now all lost to history.

She looked back at her castle, and gasped, seeing the malice swirling around it and a giant, pig shaped demon whirling above it. She heard a deafening roar, and she fell down on her hands and feet, scampering backwards and shook her head, blinking. She looked back up, hearing a bird chirp. The malice was gone. Ganon was gone. Hyrule was at peace.

She leaned backwards against the tree, shaking and breathing hard. Rationally, she knew that Ganon was gone and had been defeated, and was _never coming back_, but every time she thought she saw the malice or Ganon, her heart raced and she struggled to breathe.

Perhaps Impa was right. Perhaps it was in her best interests to focus on herself rather than on her kingdom. She drew her knees up to her chest, laying her head down on her knees, facing _away_ from the castle. Like Link said, no one was going to fault for her it.

And as far as Zelda knew, no one would miss her for it, either.


	3. Chapter 3

Malice

By: dontwaitupxx

* * *

Chapter Three

* * *

He was back.

_Ganon _was back.

Somehow, despite their best efforts, Ganon had managed to resurrect himself. Zelda shouldn't have been surprised: wasn't that what the prophecy foretold? Wasn't it that Ganon would be reincarnated again and again, and the hero and the princess would be reborn to defeat him? It was a vicious cycle. Except this time, she had to fight him twice in one lifetime.

Perhaps he had never been defeated in the first place.

She had been lying in her room at the inn in Kakariko Village when she woke up suddenly. She couldn't breathe: malice coated the air, thick and steamy and glowing and _red_, as though it had manifested out of thin air, and the walls were quickly closing in on her. _He_ came in, flying through the window, roaring and growling, his breath hot in the air, and his malice imbedded arm reached out and grabbed her roughly at her midsection in one fist, squeezing her, choking her, the malice burning her, the malice destroying her, making her eyes water, she was pulled out of her room, out of the window, out to Kakariko Village, out to the town, the kingdom, _her_ kingdom, and it was raining; cold and bitter, but the malice was hot and burning, slick and oozing, and Kakariko Village was on fire, homes set ablaze, shops set ablaze, gardens set ablaze, people were running, and running, and running and crying and tens of hundreds of guardians were shooting and scaling and Zelda was being pulled up, and up, and up, and away from her kingdom and she reached out with one hand towards the village only to find it pulsing with malice, oozing with malice, dripping with malice, and she was screaming, cold and bitter, hot and burning, slick and oozing, and she couldn't see, she couldn't see, _she couldn't see_ –

Link. Where was Link –

She saw him then, in the road of Kakariko, hot and sweaty and burnt from the fire – Link – there he was, Master Sword in hand, slashing and cutting and jumping and dodging, but the guardians were gaining on him, they were gaining and crawling towards him, pulsing with red malice, their machinery whirling and their eyes glowing bright blue, their mechanical claws abrupt like a short staccato, puncturing and pursuing and piercing and the princess was frozen in time, skyward bound, watching through the twilight and the rain; cold and bitter, and she saw her knight, _her knight_, her Link stutter in his steps, falter in his fight, shudder in his shoulders, tremble in his trek, and he hauled himself up again, he stumbled backwards, his vision blackening and spinning, the guardians spinning, the world stopped spinning, it readied its laser, beeping and buzzing, and Zelda saw Link stand there, not moving, not running, not dodging, just standing, and waiting, and waiting, and waiting, and she screamed at Link to save yourself, go, I'll be fine don't worry about me, _run_, and she urged her power to save him but her hand was pulsing with malice, oozing with malice, dripping with malice, and the laser beeped faster, and faster, and faster –

\- one final beep, the laser shot at Link, he flew back deep, and landed in a heap.

Open your eyes open your eyes open your eyes wake up Link –

And Zelda.

Zelda was pulled back, back to the castle, back to her home, back to her fortress, back to her _prison_, the hand around her squeezing her, choking her, _burning her_. All of Hyrule was raining, cold and bitter, with fires raging, hot and burning. She was pinned, unable to move, her body aching from screaming, from crying, from losing. Her body was rocking, slow and steady. Her breath was ragged, coming in short gasps. A hand in her hair. An arm around her waist. The malice melted away. And there was her knight, who breathed in the cool Kakariko Village air and sighed. Rocking her. Whispering to her. Holding her so tightly in his lap that she could not move from under his chin. She was crying. Her tears freefalling.

He wasn't back.

Ganon hadn't won.

She clutched his tunic in her hand, her hands shaking. He held her tightly, sitting cross-legged on her bed at the inn, one arm snaked around her waist, the other held tightly in her hair, holding her to him, while her legs were draped over his left leg. He had his head directly next to hers, his lips moving against her, whispering words and pressing against her forehead. Through the buzzing in her ears, she couldn't tell if he said anything.

They stayed like that for a while, and in time the buzzing in her ears stopped and she stopped shaking. She could hear that he said words now. She could feel and hear him murmur _you're okay, I've got you, you're safe_, and instantly, she was safe.

They stayed like that for the rest of the night. Zelda fell asleep in his arms, thoroughly exhausted. Link, her knight, protected her.

Even if it meant protecting her from herself.

* * *

The next few days found Zelda slowly slipping. The dark circles under her eyes had deepened, and her eyes cast a look of fatigue. She had tried to get some sleep the second night that she was in Kakariko Village, but that night, she was plagued with such an intense nightmare, she was terrified of closing her eyes for longer than a blink. So she didn't.

She found herself eating less and less in these few days, if anything at all; she had hardly the stomach or appetite for food when her nerves were rattled around every corner. She kept far away from the outskirts of the village, making sure that she could never see the castle or the field, for fear of a flashback or seeing something that was simply _not there_. It wouldn't stop, though; she would sometimes see malice coating the air, or the moon shining red versus a bright white, but she soon learned that a quick shake of her head and a reorientation of her surroundings would shake the red from her sight.

This was good, right?

She found a constant, nagging headache stretched across her temples. Sometimes it would be slight tension, easy to see past. Sometimes it would be pounding, threatening to crush her skull in half. These moments, all she wanted to do was to lie down and sleep off the pain, but her fear of malice and of Ganon and of blood moons and of fires and death and destruction far outweighed her need for rest. So she didn't.

Naturally, this didn't go unnoticed by the village.

All of the villagers had heard her screaming and thrashing in the night – the town was not that big and the walls were not that thick – and it seemed no one knew how to look her in the eye. Everyone was gentle – too gentle – treating her like a porcelain doll. She found herself growing more and more irritable, which was so unlike herself, she knew rationally, but every little thing upset her, and so she found herself secluding herself from village. She spent her days wandering the village almost aimlessly, walking up the hill to the apple tree and sitting under its shade, or sometimes spending time by the Goddess statue, praying, which was the only time she permitted herself to keep her eyes closed. She would sometimes wander up to the Great Fairy Fountain and snap pictures on the Sheikah Slate, studying the fauna and wildlife, and in these moments, through her exhaustion and anxiety, she felt like herself again. At night, she would pull herself up onto the roof of the inn, staring at the stars. She would breathe in the cool Kakariko Village air and sigh.

One sunny day found Zelda up by the Great Fairy Fountain once more, snapping pictures of the Silent Princesses that were prospering there. They were growing up there next to dozens of Blue Nightshades, and she had to wonder if they had any correlation to each other, if they both helped each other thrive out in the wild. Her head had been pounding that morning, but studying the different flowers in the fountain was as good of a distraction as any.

She was so absorbed in her research that she did not hear the sound of footsteps behind her, and was startled when she felt a hand upon her shoulder.

"Zelda."

She spun around, coming face to face with her knight. He was bent down on one knee in front of her, so that he was at the same level as her. She noticed his face was carefully neutral, as though not to betray what he was thinking. She knew that look well: it was the same look he would have on his face one hundred years ago, when he was carefully stoic; an impassive knight.

Link reached around, pulling his pack around front, "It's about lunch time. I made some extra food, and I thought I would bring it up to you," He pulled out utensils as well as a bowl with a sealed lid from his pack, opening it up to reveal a steamy cream of mushroom soup.

Zelda made no move to help herself, and so Link took it upon himself to dig out a second bowl from his pack and divided the soup equally, passing one bowl to Zelda and keeping one for himself. He sat down next to her on the grass, pulling the spoon with the soup up to his lips.

Zelda looked at her bowl and sighed, "Thank you, but I'm not that hungry right now."

"Quite frankly, Zelda, that's the biggest load of bullshit I've heard in a while."

Zelda's head snapped up, and this time, any carefully composed look Link had put on his face was now out the window. He looked angry; furious even. She shouldn't have been surprised; Link noticed everything. His eyes were looking at her with such intensity, she had to look down in her lap.

He sighed, shaking his head, and he looked at her with eyes that were kinder, softer, "Zelda, when was the last time you ate?"

"This morning."

"Okay, well what did you have?"

"…An apple."

"An apple?"

"Yes."

In truth, she _had_ picked an apple from the tree that morning, and took a bite. But the apple seemed to turn sour and disintegrate in her mouth, and she found she couldn't eat another bite.

But Link didn't have to know that.

Link gestured to her soup, "Well, an apple is not nearly enough, Zelda. Eat the soup."

Zelda glared at him, "Link, I said I'm not hungry."

"Zelda, you haven't eaten anything in days."

"That's not true, I-"

"Eat the damn soup, Zelda."

"This is no way to talk to your princess, _sir_ Link."

"Oh I'm sorry," Link snapped, his eyes flashing angrily, "I didn't realize I was talking to the _princess_ of Hyrule. I thought I was talking to Zelda. Just Zelda."

A long silent pause, and then, "I'm done here."

She moved to stand up, "Zelda – wait."

As though the universe wanted to prove her wrong, as she stood up, she felt herself sway and felt a buzzing in her limbs as black spots covered her vision. Instantly, two hands gripped her upper arms in a steel grip, and she was scooped off of her feet and was quickly propped up against a tree, her vision still swimming and black dots still decorating her sight. She put her head between her knees, taking deep breaths, trying to stop her stomach from churning. Zelda felt Link leave her side for a moment, before coming back and placing a hand on her back, rubbing small circles.

Slowly, gradually, the buzzing lessened, the black spots dissipated. Link was knelt next to her, his hand on her back, his eyes full of worry. Without a word, he offered a water skin to her, and she accepted it, taking a drink of water and staring ahead. Link moved to sit down next to her. They didn't speak for a while, only hearing the sounds of the birds chirping and the distant sounds from the village. Finally, he spoke up.

"Zelda, when are we going to talk about this?"

"There's nothing to talk about," Zelda whispered, her voice small and fainter than she would have liked.

"Zelda… you're falling apart. You're not eating, you're not speaking to anyone, and quite honestly, it doesn't seem like you've been sleeping, either." Zelda looked out towards the woods, not meeting Link's gaze. He grabbed one of her hands, "Zelda, talk to me, please. I can't help you unless you let me in."

Zelda finally turned and looked at his face. His eyes were full of worry, and something else, and his eyebrows were scrunched together, pleading. Nowhere on his face was there any stress from the calamity. Nowhere did he show any signs of weakness.

Zelda stared back at the woods, "How in the world has none of this affected you? How are you able to go each day without being reminded of the past century?"

"Zelda, every single day I am reminded of the last century, as everyone else is in all of Hyrule," Link argued, "But while you were stuck in a century long battle with Ganon – which I cannot even fathom what that would have been like – I was _asleep_ in the Shrine of Resurrection, and I barely remember anything before then. Fighting Bokoblins and Moblins and Lynels and Yiga and whatever else the universe wants to throw at me, I can do that, because it's always been my job as the hero." He paused, and then, "I can't imagine what you went through. Everything I've been through has been scattered in small increments in my life, but I cannot imagine what one hundred straight years of fighting Ganon was like. I'd wager it's a lot different than swinging a sword around. I would think it would have taken a lot out of you, mentally and spiritually."

Zelda nodded faintly, taking another drink from the water skin.

Link licked his lips, continuing, "And while you don't have to tell me anything you don't want to, talking about it might make you feel better. I don't understand to the fullest extent, but I do understand better than most."

Zelda thought back to what Impa had told her the other day, that they would need each other desperately as they coped with the aftermath of the calamity, and how he was the only one alive who understood a fraction of what she was going through.

Zelda gulped, taking one more drink of water, "Can we be one hundred percent sure that Ganon is gone?"

Link looked at her strangely, "What do you mean?"

"The other night, in my dream, Ganon was back. He dragged me out the window and I watched Kakariko Village burn. The Guardians were back under his control, and you were fighting them, except this time, you _lost._ Then Ganon dragged be back to the castle, that _prison_… except this time there was no hero alive to seal the darkness."

Link sat back against the tree with her, "Zelda, we worked together to defeat him. We sealed him away. He isn't coming back from that, at least in our lifetimes."

A sense of dread crept up on her, "Yes, however, a thought has been occurring to me," she shuddered, "You know how in each of the Divine Beasts, Ganon had a scourge, which was a fraction of his overall power?" Link nodded, "What if the Ganon we faced in the castle was a scourge, and I was locked in battle for all those years with not even Ganon's primary form? The other Champions, they each had their own Divine Beast and fought against Ganon's scourge… what if the castle was intended as our Divine Beast… and that Ganon our scourge?"

Link was silent for a long time, staring off at the woods in front of them. Finally, he responded, "That's impossible. We defeated Ganon. We defeated his final form on Hyrule Field. He will not return."

"But how can we be sure?"

"He's _gone!_" Link yelled, snapping again, this time standing up and pacing near the Great Fairy Fountain. He ran his hands through his hair, staring up at the sky, and then wrung his hands out and turned back to her, "I'm sorry. It's just – the prophecy foretold the coming of Calamity Ganon. And we defeated him. We did everything we were supposed to do. Fate has had her way with us, and the prophecy has been completed. Ganon is no more."

Zelda didn't have much to say after that. She supposed he was right, and her speculations were exactly that: speculations. There was neither concrete evidence nor a reason to believe that Ganon hadn't been defeated. The past two days had been two of the most peaceful days Hyrule had seen in a century. Had Ganon actually been alive, she doubted they would have seen peace.

Slowly, she moved herself to her hands and knees and crawled the couple of paces over to their impromptu picnic. She picked up her bowl of soup, now cold, and took a bite. She still wasn't hungry, but Link was right: she needed to eat _something_, and she felt that she could swallow a bit of soup.

She looked down, and suddenly the soup was gone. She hadn't realized how quickly she ate it. Link saw this, and with a ghost of a smile on his face, passed his to her as well.

Once she finished, Link quickly packed up the bowls and they began heading out of the woods and down the hill back to the village, Link's hand wrapped lightly around Zelda's waist, in case she were to faint again.

Back in the village, it wasn't long before Impa summoned him. Zelda was back at the Goddess statue in town, praying, when Dorian came up to Link, telling him that Impa had requested to speak with him. Out of due respect to the village elder, Link wasted no time heading over to Impa's house and trekking the stairs. Inside, Impa sat on her cushions, and gave him a nod as a greeting. He closed the door behind himself and knelt before the elder.

"Word passes quickly in this village, Link, and it has come to my attention that the Lady Zelda is getting worse," Impa began, her voice slow and grainy.

"She is, but I think we can help her," Link began, "I was just with her up by the Great Fairy Fountain, and I got her to talk and open up to me about what's been going through her mind. I also got her to eat a little."

A sharp laugh escaped Impa, "Isn't it funny how times have changed, and how one hundred years ago, Lady Zelda would try so fruitlessly to get you to speak and open up to her, and now the roles have been reversed."

She continued, "I spoke with her that second day she was here in Kakariko, and it was very clear to me that she wasn't doing well coping. She told me a good deal, but I fear she is holding back, and by holding back, she is not getting the help she needs. Has she mentioned anything to you?"

Link looked down, "She told me about her nightmare from the other night… she had a dream that Ganon returned for a second time… she then went on to ask me if I thought it was possible that Ganon could still be alive."

"How," Impa nearly spat, "The two of you sealed him away, did you not? The fact that you are both here in Kakariko is proof enough to me of his demise."

"That's where things get tricky…" Link began, "Zelda went onto speculate on how since each of the Divine Beasts had a scourge of Ganon, what if the castle also had a scourge of him, and the real Ganon is still out there, planning his next attack?"

Impa was silent for a long moment, and then, "That would certainly put a damper on things, wouldn't it?" She adjusted her posture, leaning forward on the cushion, "Do we have any evidence that this may be the case?"

"No, nothing more than Zelda's thoughts on it."

Impa was silent for another long moment, deep in thought, "Well, there is no use worrying about something that may or may not happen. We need to work with what we know. What we know is that you and Lady Zelda did defeat Ganon at Hyrule Castle. Whether that was just a fraction of him or the full incarnate is pure speculation.

"I have been thinking the past couple of days about the Lady Zelda's wellbeing, and I think her being in Kakariko Village does her no good. As much as myself and the rest of the Sheikah love and admire her, having a full view of Hyrule Castle within a minute's walk is not healthy for her. What she needs is to be far away from Central Hyrule, in a place where she can completely forget about the castle and Calamity Ganon."

"What do you suggest?" Link asked.

"You own a home in Hateno Village, do you not?" Impa cocked her head to the side.

"I do," Link began, "But the only way to Hateno Village is through Fort Hateno, and it brought back memories for her and sent her into a panic when we came here to Kakariko… I want to avoid causing any more pain than necessary."

"Despite all this, I would advise you to take her there. She is strong, and she can handle it. Go to Hateno. Live simply. Forget about the Calamity Ganon and the past one hundred years. Have her put _down_ the Sheikah Slate. Buy her a journal. Have her visit my sister, Purah; I'm sure she would love to see the princess…" Impa's leaned forward again, "And Link, she needs you right now. Be there for her. Comfort her. There will be times where she loses a grip on herself. There may be times where she lashes out, and becomes irrationally angry. There will be moments too where she will be her beautiful self, and you'll fall in love with her all over again."

Link was silent, in quiet contemplation, "I did love her then, didn't I?"

"Yes, hero, you did, and though you are a different man than you were one hundred years ago, she is a completely changed woman. One hundred years will do that to you."

"I don't have any memories of loving her… but it just makes sense. And as I found little bits and pieces of myself across Hyrule… it all pointed back to her. When I fought the Guardians at Fort Hateno, I remember being so scared, and how I would have rather died than lose her… that could have been love, but it also could have just been my duty," Link laughed bitterly, running his hand across his face, his eyes sad, "And though I care deeply for her now, I can't say that I know to love her."

A hearty laugh escaped Impa's lips in front of him, "Boy, you have known her not even a week. Give it time, and then talk to me again," a mischievous grin came across Impa's features, "If you don't end up falling for the princess like I'm sure you will, there is at least one eligible bachelorette in this village who would love to raise a family with you!"

From up the stairs, Link heard a high-pitched squeak, and he immediately wanted to crawl inside himself and never return.

Impa turned towards the staircase, "That's what you get for eavesdropping!" Impa laughed to herself, then turned to Link, who was beet red in the face, "Oh come now, Link, you can't act like you didn't know!"

Link was already seeing himself out, "I'll go fetch the princess and have her pack her things."

"That would be good, hero," and he was gone, the door shut behind him. Impa sighed, and then grabbed a quill and paper and began drafting a letter to Purah.

She did not believe that Calamity Ganon would return, if he had been properly sealed away. However, how were they to know the extent of Ganon's powers? Who were they to think that by eradicating him in the castle, they were free of him for the next ten thousand years? When he invaded the castle those hundred years ago, he invaded it around the same time the blights invaded the Divine Beasts. Was it possible the Ganon they fought at the castle was a mere blight? A fraction of Ganon's power? And if so, why hadn't he unleashed his true, complete form?

What could he be waiting for?

With that, she drafted her letter, instructing her sister to research any other Ancient Sheikah texts, to make sure they didn't overlook something vital.

She could only hope that they were just being paranoid.


	4. Chapter 4

Malice

By: dontwaitupxx

* * *

Chapter Four

* * *

As Link bounded down the stairs from Impa's house, he found still Zelda knelt before the Goddess statue, deep in prayer. Rather than interrupt her prayer, he bounded to the inn to begin packing their things. As a rule, he packed light, and Zelda truly did not have much except for the clothes on her back, so he knew that it wouldn't take long. He planned to leave Kakariko Village immediately, and seeing as it was only mid-afternoon, they could reach Hateno Village by dusk if they went by horse.

He bounded up the stairs of the inn two at a time, and passed Zelda's room and went straight to his room, packing up what little was not already in his pack: a toothbrush, a spare set of trousers set out, and his bow and arrow quiver, resting against the windowsill. He packed it all away and strapped the bow and arrow quiver to his back, pivoting on his feet and quickly heading out.

He went by Zelda's room and grabbed the spare shirt and trousers he had loaned her for sleeping, as well as her sandals and packed them away. Her bed was immaculately made, as though she had zero intentions of sleeping in it again. Her prayer dress lay forgotten in a corner of the room, and he had the feeling she wanted for it to remain forgotten. He tossed it in a trash bin in the main lobby of the inn, and strode out.

Back at the Goddess statue, Zelda was still knelt in front of it, her eyes screwed shut with her forehead scrunched, deep in prayer. He knew it wasn't wise to interrupt her prayer, but they would need to leave soon if they wanted to reach Hateno Village by dusk. Link strode past Impa's house towards the stables to retrieve their horse.

"M-m-m-m-master Link!"

He swiveled, turning around to see Paya making her way down the stairs from Impa's house. She had balancing in her arms a few wrapped items, and quickly made her way towards him.

"M-master Link, my grandmother told me that you and the princess would be leaving soon… so soon," Paya stammered, a faint blush already creeping on her cheeks, "I made some food for your journey, for both you and the princess," she handed him the parcels, ending with a short bow.

Link took them gently, "Thank you, Paya. The hospitality from you, as well as the rest of the Sheikah here in Kakariko, is always appreciated."

Paya nodded once, twice, "Y-yes – no – I mean, thank _you_, Master Link. Hyrule is now safe, and myself, as well as the people of Hyrule, are forever in your debt," she swallowed, licking her lips, then continued, "And, Master Link, s-s-s-should you ever w-wish to come back to K-Kakariko Village, you will always be welcome."

Link smiled, "Well, that is much appreciated, Paya, thank –"

Paya quickly leaned in and placed a small kiss on Link's cheek, swiftly turned beet red, and squeaked as she ran back to Impa's house, flying up the stairs, and slamming the door behind her.

"…you," Link finished, his hand ghosting over his cheek, where he could still feel Paya's lips shyly brushing against him.

He briefly opened the parcels to find salt-grilled greens mixed with veggie rice balls. This was kind of Paya, and whether she knew or not, it was thoughtful to the princess, where nothing she packed would be incredibly heavy on the stomach.

Speaking of the princess…

He turned back towards the shrine. Zelda was still bent over in front of the statue, not having moved an inch. He turned back and walked towards the stables, trying desperately to think of any other routes they could take to Hateno Village that would not go through Fort Hateno. He knew there wouldn't be though; the battle at Fort Hateno was defending Kakariko Village and Hateno Village from the impending Guardians. Had there been any other entrance into the village, the Guardians would have surely found a way in. As it stood, there was not, and both of the villages remained untouched physically by the destruction of the calamity.

He didn't have any additional horses stabled here at the Kakariko Stable. He had an additional one stabled at Hateno Village, but that hardly helped the hero and the princess in Kakariko. They would have to ride double again on their trip to Hateno. Perhaps that would be best, going through the fort.

He packed his and Zelda's gear on the backside of the horse and grabbed the reins, leading the horse back into the center of town. Zelda, still, was bent in front of the shrine, and Link had stalled as much as he could. They needed to get going. He smoothed his hand over his horse's mane, calming it, and let go of the reins, taking a few steps towards the princess, laying on hand on her shoulder, and whispering, "Zelda."

Zelda lifted her head slightly, her eyes with a glassy look to them, "Link?"

He offered a hand to her, "We're heading to Hateno Village soon; now, actually. Come on, I've already packed our things, we can make it there before dusk if we leave now."

"Wait… what?" Zelda asked, gathering herself, "Hateno Village? Why are we heading to Hateno?"

"Impa thinks it would be best, and I agree with her," Link murmured, "It's quieter out there, and more peaceful, and it will give you time to rest."

"I'm perfectly content here… Kakariko Village is the definition of peaceful, I don't understand…" Zelda said.

"Well… we'll be farther away from Central Hyrule," the phrase 'farther away from the castle' was clear in intent, and Zelda immediately understood, "And I have a house in Hateno. It might be more comfortable than a room at an inn."

"Oh…" Zelda whispered. She supposed she shouldn't be surprised, but she never stopped to wonder if in these last few months as a new man, when struggling to find pieces of himself, he bought a house to lay roots down of his new life. It made sense, and yet she still found herself in shock from that.

"And we can visit Purah up at the Hateno Ancient Tech Lab," Link offered, smiling, "She can fiddle around with the slate, if you'd like, maybe she has figured out another use for it."

At this, a small smile grew on Zelda's face. Link still had his hand reached out towards her and she finally accepted it, Link pulling her up on her feet, careful to watch for any signs of her swaying.

_He will probably be doing that for a while, out of instinct,_ Zelda thought, brushing off her pants.

"I need to grab my things from the inn," Zelda said, turning towards the building.

"I already packed everything of ours," Link said, "I think the last thing we just need to do before we go is to give our goodbyes."

Zelda quickly ran up the steps towards Impa's house and bid her and Paya farewell. Link double-checked his packs to make sure that there was nothing that they were missing. With the additions to their food provisions from Paya, they had enough food to last them well into the next couple of days, though the trip itself wouldn't even take a full day. It would help, seeing as he had not been inside his Hateno home in a few long weeks, since right before he had traveled to the Gerudo Highlands to tame Divine Beast Vah Naboris. He didn't have any food stored away, and if he _did_, it had long since gone bad. The most he was bound to have was a sack of rice. At least they could break into these rations those first couple of days in Hateno, before Link had time to get to the market for himself and the princess.

The door to Impa's slid open, and Zelda made her way down the steps towards Link. Just like that day on Hyrule Field, Link fell one step behind Zelda and quickly lifted her onto the saddle of the horse, carefully easing himself behind her. With a quick flick of his wrists on the reins, they were off, en route to Hateno Village and away from Kakariko.

Link led their horse up the hill towards the Blatchery Plain, and as the canyon closed in on them on either side, Zelda felt that claustrophobic feeling she felt in the room of the inn. Before she could see the malice coating the air, she shut her eyes and shook her head. When she opened them, there was no malice, and all was well.

As they passed the Kakariko bridge, Zelda could see up ahead the stable and inn, glowing in light with musicians playing. Ahead of that, she saw the faint blue glow of a shrine in the late afternoon light. If she focused on that, she could tune out the husks of the guardians in the distance. She closed her eyes briefly and sighed; she could do this.

She felt Link's hand on top of one of hers, with the rein in-between, and opened her eyes. He squeezed her hand gently, "Just about another ten minutes and we'll have made it to the Fort Hateno gates," he murmured in her ear.

They took an abrupt left once they crossed the bridge, and up ahead, Zelda saw even more Guardians littered upon the landscape, and up ahead of the Guardians, was the ruins of Fort Hateno, hardly being held up over years of disrepair.

Zelda's breath shuddered. That day was still so fresh in her mind's eye. She couldn't help but shiver as she looked straight ahead, focusing on the fort, on the gates, on the _missing pieces of stone and exposed wood and the Guardians shooting and scaling, their lasers beeping and buzzing and spinning – _

"_Zelda."_

Zelda's head snapped up amongst the dead husks of the Guardians. Link was looking at her again, with that same look of concern, his one hand still on hers.

He gave it another squeeze, "We're almost past the fort, princess, and then a couple hours from there, we will be in Hateno."

She didn't bother to correct him regarding her title. Up ahead, she saw something moving towards them from under the gates of Fort Hateno. She couldn't tell at first what it was, but as it got closer, she saw that it was a merchant on horseback, probably transporting goods from Hateno Village to the other providences of Hyrule. If there was one vendor making use of the roads, there were probably more, which rationally, meant that these roads were safe. No Guardian attacks, no malice, no Ganon.

They passed through Fort Hateno without any trouble, and beyond the walls of the fort, Zelda saw the untouched Necluda land and gasped. Much like Kakariko Village, this land had been spared from Ganon's destruction. She saw trees and animals, whereas in the Blatchery Plain outside of Fort Hateno, it is sparse of trees, and the only animals she would see were strings of horses migrating across Hyrule.

As they rounded the corner, she saw the Hateno Tower, shining like a beacon against the twilight. She still wasn't quite used to seeing the towers and shrines, shining like fireflies and dotting the landscape.

Before long, they rounded the corner, and saw the sign to Hateno Village, dark in contrast to the stars that littered the night sky. By now, most of the village would be asleep, as the moon was high in the sky. Zelda had wanted to see Purah that same day they arrived, but she figured she could just as well see her the next day.

Link, seemingly reading her mind, pointed upwards, towards a large hill overlooking the town. There, a home resided, with smoke coming from its chimney, and a comically large telescope perched nearly precariously from the side of the home.

"That," Link said, "is where Purah lives. We can stop by in the morning and see her. It should come as a surprise to her, I didn't give her any warning we were coming into town."

Zelda nodded softly, noticing what looked like a faint blue flame on top of the hill, much like the color the towers and shrines were all across Hyrule. Link shifted, bringing the reins to the right sharply, taking Zelda on a path perpendicular to the main road of Hateno. She noticed up ahead of them another shrine, its blue glow sending soft shadows around it, and beside the shrine, a few oddly shaped homes, very geometrical in design, almost like toy blocks stacked on top of one another. Link took her past those homes where an old bridge was, and took her across the bridge, where a small house was, complete with a small stable on its right side, next to a pond, with apple trees scattered across the property.

The realization hit Zelda instantly, "Link, is this…"

"Yeah," Link replied, almost sheepishly, "This is home."

Link slid off the horse and turned back towards Zelda, lifting her off of the saddle. He grabbed the reins of the horse again, "Head on inside, I'll just be a minute. I'm going to get her settled in the stable."

Link walked off with the horse, and Zelda waited until he was around the corner before turning the knob of the door and walking inside. It was dark inside, but from the moonlight shining in from the front door and the windows, she saw a modestly sized one-room home, with a loft dividing the space. In front of her was a small kitchen area, the walls adorned with various weapons and bows and shields, though in the darkness, she couldn't tell exactly what they were. To her right, she saw stairs leading up to the loft, which was what she presumed to be the sleeping area, and underneath the stairs, was a small storage area, with boxes and shelves, the shelves looking sparse. Perhaps it was a sort of pantry and storage space.

She heard Link step inside behind her, "It's not much, I know. If you'd feel more comfortable at the inn, we can always…"

"Link," Zelda stopped him, placing a hand on his arm, "It's perfect. Thank you."

As she explored the place in finer detail, Link went about lighting a few candles to light up the house, and went about unpacking his and Zelda's things. With the house better lit, Zelda went about looking at the different weapons on the walls, her heart nearly stopping when she saw a shield and scimitar of the Gerudo, a massive claymore like weapon fit for the Gorons, a trident adorned with priceless jewels, undoubtedly the fine craftsmen of the Zora, and an immaculate bow of the Rito.

She spent one hundred years thinking about the Champions. There was no way her memory was faulting her.

Link noticed her looking at the weapon plaques and came up beside her, scratching his head, "When I freed each of the four Divine Beasts, each elder and leader of the respective providences gifted me the Champions' weapon. It… it felt almost _wrong_, using those weapons in battle, especially since they were not mine in the first place. I held onto them for a while, but by the time I had freed Vah Rudania, and the elder of the Goron gave me Boulder Breaker… well I already had the Lightscale Trident from the Zora, and I don't know if you realize, but Boulder Breaker weighs more than twice my weight, and it just wasn't feasible to carry it all around Hyrule… so I bought this house, so I had a place for the Champions' weapons to rest."

"I miss them so much," Zelda hadn't realized until then that she had tears in her eyes. She grabbed hold of his hand, "Link, this is a beautiful token to them."

Link wouldn't meet her eyes, "I wish I remembered more about them," he muttered, "It feels wrong to have their weapons in my home, when I can barely remember anything about them."

"They would want you to have them," Zelda answered, squeezing his hand.

A bitter smile graced his lips, and before Zelda could say anything else, he had let go of her hand, walking back towards his pack, taking out blankets and a sleeping roll and placing them on the floor of his kitchen. She noticed briefly that none of her stuff was down here, and that it was just Link's stuff on the first floor.

"Link," Zelda started, her voice almost timid, "You should take your bed upstairs. I can sleep down here."

He looked at her incredulously, and went back to making his bedroll, "What kind of a knight would I be if I allowed the Princess of Hyrule to sleep on the ground, while I slept in my bed?"

"The kind that was gracious enough to let me stay in his private residence over an inn."

"An inn would be better than sleeping on the ground, Princess."

"My name is Zelda, and I am not about to take _your_ bed in _your_ house."

"_Zelda, please,"_ Link cut her off, snapping at her. Taking a deep breath, he tried again, his voice softer this time, "Zelda, take the bed upstairs, please: for me. Only you can say when the last time you got a full night's sleep was, and you need your rest. I'm fine down here, really. Just… please: take the bed."

Zelda sighed, and with resignation, went up the stairs to the loft. He was right about one thing: she was the only one who knew the last time she got a full night's sleep, and if she were to answer truthfully, it would have been over one hundred years ago. She saw there was a small desk against the railing, with her things folded on top, and tucked in the corner, under a window, was a modest bed, and on the side table was a small vase, adorning a Silent Princess. How had he managed to make it grow domestically?

She went back to the desk, quickly changing into the trousers and shirt that Link had essentially all but given to her. She honestly doubted that he would ask for them back. She then turned back to the bed, looking at the pillow and comforter draped over it. A mischievous grin slowly adorned her features as an idea popped into her head.

If Link wouldn't sleep in his bed, then perhaps no one would.

Link was downstairs, unpacking the last few items from his bag, minding his own business, when he was hit in the head from above with a pillow. It more or less startled him, and as he turned his face to look up at the railing, he saw a comforter flying towards him and engulfing him whole.

A startled cry escaped his lips, and he heard Zelda giggling as he heard footsteps flying down the stairs. As he lifted the comforter off his head, he saw Zelda slide on the floor next to him, her pillow now set up directly next to his. A huge mischievous smile was across her face, her cheeks slightly pink from the excitement of it.

"Zelda," he warned, "What are you…"

"Well," she replied, rolling onto her side, "I was thinking, if you won't sleep in your bed, and I don't want to take your bed from you, then I suppose the most obvious _compromise_ is that no one sleeps in your bed."

Link's eyes widened, "Zelda, no… no, that's not how this works."

"Isn't it, _sir_ knight?" Zelda cocked her head to her side, almost pouting, and Link nearly had to catch his breath.

Link shook his head, getting his wits back, "_Zelda_," he said carefully, "This isn't up for discussion. This isn't up for a compromise. Go back upstairs."

"No."

"_Zelda_."

"Link."

"Go back upstairs."

"Make me."

Zelda let out a small shriek as her world spun and Link hoisted her up over his shoulder, grabbing the blanket and pillow along the way, holding onto the back of her legs as she kicked and screamed and pounded at his back.

"Put me down this _instant_, this is no way to handle a princess!"

"Oh, I'm _sorry_," Link retorted, climbing the stairs, though she was sure she heard a grin in his voice, "I didn't realize I was speaking to the _Princess of Hyrule._"

He threw the pillow and blanket on top of the bed, and finally, threw the Princess of Hyrule unceremoniously onto the bed. He turned to walk away and back down the stairs, but Zelda grabbed the back of his tunic, yanking him back down onto the bed, throwing him face first into the pillow and trying to escape back downstairs, but Link was far more agile and much quicker than she was, and he turned around, grabbing her waist and throwing her back onto the mattress of the bed, pinning her arms beside her head, straddling her.

They were both breathing hard, their faces inches away from one another. Zelda could feel Link's breath hot against her lips. He was so close to her, if she lifted her head up an inch, she would be close enough to kiss him…

…Oh, Hylia, what was she _doing?_

Link seemed to have his realization at the exact same time she did, and abruptly, quickly, he let go of her arms, climbing off of her and onto the floor beside the bed. Zelda, similarly, sat up, combing her hair with her fingertips, still trying to catch her breath. Her eyes could barely meet his face.

"Well…" Link stammered, "I'm just going to head back downstairs then."

Zelda nodded in agreement.

"And you'll just stay up here."

"Yup," Zelda squeaked, her voice cracking.

Link let out a breath he had been holding, scratching the back of his head, "Okay, then…"

He quickly walked back to the stairs, and once he was down the stairs and out of sight, Zelda let out the breath she had been holding, throwing her head back onto the pillow of the bed. She had almost kissed him. The man had select memories of her from the past, had known her for all but a week since the Calamity, and she had nearly kissed him. What was she _thinking_?

She turned to open the window. She breathed in the cool Hateno Village air, and sighed. She supposed she had lost that battle, but she realized looming over the horizon was her next battle: sleep.

The thought of closing her eyes filled her with so much anxiety, but she was finally getting to a point where her pure exhaustion was enough to outweigh her anxiety. That, and there was no way she could get outside onto the roof without Link hearing her.

Gingerly, she slid under the blanket and closed her eyes, focusing on keeping her mind blank. She tried to think of other things, of seeing Purah tomorrow, of the Hateno beaches, of a calm, peaceful life with a certain blue-eyed knight by her side…

* * *

_Link, save yourself, go, I'll be fine don't worry about me, run…_

* * *

Zelda woke with a start, a frightened cry escaping her lips before she could stop it. She noticed briefly that all of the candles had long since been blown out, and it was almost dawn, the sun's rays just barely peaking over the horizon. She couldn't have slept more than a couple of hours, and she was still so exhausted.

"Zelda?" She heard footsteps racing up the stairs, two at a time, and in the shadows, she saw Link coming towards her, sitting next to her on the bed. She immediately collapsed into him, and he obliged, lifting her into his lap and tucking her under his chin. She breathed him in and sighed, feeling safe in his arms.

They were silent for a while, Zelda holding onto his tunic and Link rubbing small circles into her back. He was the first to speak, almost mechanically, "Zelda, you need to try and go back to sleep."

She was silent for a moment, and then, timidly, hesitantly, "Will you stay?"

He was silent for a beat, two beats, three, and she thought he was going to say no. But then he took in a deep breath and breathed, "Yeah," a small, safe kiss to her forehead, "I will."

Gently, slowly, she moved to lie back down on the pillow and she felt Link move behind her, lifting the covers over them as they settled back down to sleep. A cautious arm snaked around her waist. Her back was flush against his chest. His head was laid next to hers.

He breathed in the cool Hateno Village air, and sighed, and she felt his breath dance across her neck.

"Sleep well, Princess."

And she did: for the rest of the night, no demons would haunt her.


	5. Chapter 5

Malice

By: dontwaitupxx

* * *

Chapter Five

* * *

Zelda awoke groggily; her mind hazy. She was aware that she was not in her bed, though comfortable as it was. Cool air was blowing on her face, and she could hear birds chirping and horse hooves lazily trotting about. It was bright behind closed eyelids, and every instinct told her to keep her eyes closed, to burrow deeper under the covers.

Against her better judgment, she did open her eyes, and found herself in Link's Hateno home, cocooned in blankets. She noticed absentmindedly that she could hear sounds from the village center; the sun high in the sky as villagers ran errands and otherwise milled about their day.

_Wait. _The sun high in the sky?

How long had she slept for?

As a rule, the Princess of Hyrule always rose with the sun, dedicating her mornings to prayer with the Goddess. Well, she hadn't exactly been keeping up with that tradition within the last week, much less within the last one hundred years. Perhaps a new tradition could be created, one where the Princess could sleep until whenever her heart desired?

Yes, that sounded like one of the first laws she would enact.

Slowly, she swung her legs over the edge of the bed, her arms stretching wide as she yawned. She felt refreshed; she also felt like she could sleep for another day or so, but decided she would start her day and see where Link had gone.

_Link…_

Her mind wandered back to last night, back to their moment together where they were pressed against each other on his bed, noses practically touching, breath intermingling. As ashamed as she was for nearly kissing a man who barely knew who she was… it had felt so right. She thought back too to later that night, when he slept next to her after her dream.

And evidence was clearly pointing to that being some of the best sleep she had ever gotten.

She stood up and walked over to the desk where she had left her trousers and Champion's tunic laid out… only to find it missing. In its place was a brown knit sweater, a pair of tan linen pants, and a brown Hylian hood. In the very least, her boots were left on the floor beside the desk. But where did her blue tunic go…

As if on cue, the front door of the house opened, and Link strode in, carrying a large bag, and _wearing a green tunic and brown trousers._

She was half convinced she was still dreaming, because this universe she was in was definitely not Hyrule.

Link looked up to the loft then, and a small grin fell on his features as he saw her, eyes glassy and hair messy from sleep, "Hey."

Was he serious? She picked up the sweater and pants in both hands and waved them around her head, "What are these?"

"Those?" Link asked, unpacking the bag on the table, revealing rice, eggs, mushrooms, and milk, "Those are clothes. Tell me if they fit you okay."

She was going to burst at the seams, "Where's my Champion's tunic? For that matter, where's _your _Champion's tunic?"

"I, uh," he said, between putting things away in the pantry under her feet, "put them away. I thought it might be good for us to have a fresh start. Not as the princess, not as the hero; just as Zelda and Link."

_Zelda and Link…_ how she liked the sound of that. She shook her head, clearing those thoughts from her head. Yesterday she was a girl with dreams of her knight and now she was a girl infatuated. What had she become?

Link continued, "I'm going to make some lunch for us, because _someone_ missed breakfast."

She gaped, turning towards him. When had he gotten so playful? And why hadn't she ever seen how damn good he looked in green?

Before he could see the blush creeping on her cheeks, she turned around, grabbing the sweater and pants and bringing them over to the bed. They were both very soft, and looked warm. Hateno Village was a bit cooler than Kakariko Village was, or even Central Hyrule. She supposed it wasn't the end of the world for her to have a change of clothes, and the Hylian hood would keep her warm against the brisk wind up the hill.

She was mad at how well the clothes fit her. The sweater was snug, hugging her curves, and the pants, much like her pants she wore with her Champion's tunic, gave her a wide range of movement, so she could study the fauna and wildlife of Hateno with ease. She quickly combed through her hair with her fingers, braiding it around the crown of her hair, securely tying it off.

She laced up her boots and went downstairs, placing her hands on her hips, fluttering her eyelashes, "Well? How do I look?"

She couldn't help herself now; she was being evil, leaning her hips to the side. She was being cruel now, and she knew it.

She wasn't disappointed when Link stammered, nearly dropping the salt-grilled greens and veggie rice balls packed from Paya in Kakariko, "You look… ah, yes, I'm glad they fit you okay."

"Yes, they do," Zelda hummed, "And you: why have I never seen you in green before? It suits you."

Link rubbed the back of his head, a timid grin moving on his face as he placed two plates down at the table, "I've just always worn that Champion's tunic, from what I can remember."

Zelda sat down at the other seat at the table, picking up her fork, "Well, from what _I_ remember back at the castle, sometimes you would have to wear the Royal Guard's Uniform for very, uh, shall we say 'formal' events."

"What did that look like?" Link asked between bites.

"Well, it was this uncomfortable looking sort of thing with a red shirt underneath a royal blue tunic with gold embroidery on it," she said, eating an entire rice ball in one bite, "It reflected the colors of the royal family."

"You had a blue dress in that color, didn't you?"

"Yes… I did…" Zelda murmured. She still wasn't sure what Link could remember, and though he said he was finding out things everyday, albeit small things, it still came as a revelation to her when he voiced a recollection, "Anyways, it had this cap that all the Royal Guards had to wear off to the side, and it looked _ridiculous_, and then these stark white boots that went halfway up your thigh, all paired with matching gloves. I remember people complaining how they couldn't keep those boots clean… hence why the uniform was used strictly for ceremonial purposes."

Much like at the Great Fairy Fountain, she looked down at her plate to find it already completely empty. Before she could even open her mouth to speak, Link had already picked up her plate and was filling it within seconds.

For the rest of lunch, they briefly went over what they were going to do that day. It was already afternoon, and the main thing on their agenda for the day was making the trek up the hill to see Purah. Link advised her to wear the Hylian hood that was up on the desk upstairs, since it was a good ten degrees colder at the top of the hill.

Zelda expressed interest in going to the Hateno Beach and going riding through the woods, and Link agreed, seeing as he had noticed the amount of Bokoblins and Moblins and Lynels had gone exponentially down since Calamity Ganon's defeat. Link had his two horses stabled now here in Hateno, so they wouldn't have to ride double.

As they finished up cleaning up lunch, and Zelda had adorned her new Hylian hood, Link suddenly grabbed her hand, "Zelda, before we go up the hill to see Purah, has anyone… told you about her?"

"What do you mean?" Zelda questioned.

"Well," Link licked his lips, "She may have created an anti-aging rune and tested it against herself… and now she is in the body of a six year old girl."

Zelda was silent for a long time, contemplating this, until she broke down laughing, her one hand squeezing Link's and the other clutching the wall for support, "You mean to tell me," Zelda began, "That between Purah and her sister, one is positively ancient and the other is _six?_"

Link truly didn't mean to, really, but a bubble of laughter escaped his mouth, and soon, he was laughing with the princess, at the absurdity of it all. Really, in a world where one of them was locked in battle for a century and the other was asleep and recalled next to none of his memories from before, and they were both smacked into a world with their friends dead and their families dead and everything they ever knew about their life being shattered, the few things that remained constant was Impa and Purah, and Impa was ancient and Purah was six. All they could do in this situation was laugh.

Soon after, Link and Zelda left his Hateno home to go up the hill. As they walked through the center of town, the villagers stared at the new Hylian girl walking with Link. Some of them believed he was the Champion of old, many believed he was just a swell guy that showed their kids crazy weapons and got rid of the Bokoblins down at Hateno Beach. And the girl, they knew of the legends, where the princess was locked in battle with Calamity Ganon for a century at Hyrule Castle, and they also knew that the swirling around the castle had ceased about a week ago.

But if this were the princess of legend, wouldn't she be a hundred and seventeen or something?

So for now, she was just another Hylian girl, and Zelda found that nearly liberating. Perhaps Impa and Link were onto something, sending her here, and having her not worry about rebuilding the kingdom just yet.

She could just be Zelda.

She could do that.

As they went up the hill, the houses got farther and farther apart from one another, and the hills grew steeper, and the temperature grew chillier. Zelda clutched her Hylian hood around her, grateful that Link had gotten it for her.

As they got closer to the Hateno Ancient Tech Lab, they came across a fork in the road, and there, an apple tree. To the right, would lead them back down a series of hills towards Hateno Beach, and to the left would send them up one more spiral hill towards the lab. Link reached up at the apple tree and grabbed one, offering it to Zelda. She graciously accepted it, taking a bite.

And this time, it did not disintegrate and turn sour in her mouth.

They headed left, up the hill, up towards the lab, and Zelda got butterflies in her stomach. She hadn't seen Purah in one hundred years, but would she even recognize her? If what Link said was true, she would be a firm twenty-five years younger than the age Zelda knew her at.

They reached the door of the Hateno Ancient Tech Lab, and rather than knock, Link just opened the door, bringing Zelda in behind him.

The lab was whirling with activity, and Zelda saw immediately to her left, a Guidance Stone on a pedestal, and beyond in the back, a tall Sheikah man, tending to the bookshelves, and then at the table, a pair of _feet_ dangling from the table, the body obscured by a massive pile of books on the table.

Link cleared his throat, "Purah."

From behind the pile of books, a very high-pitched squeal resonated, "Linky! I was wondering when you would return! You know, I have been wanting to take a look at that Sheikah Slate of yours, and you don't stop by nearly as often as I would like…"

Purah rounded the table, and Zelda saw her for the first time. Link wasn't kidding. She really was aged back down to six years old.

…maybe a tall five year old.

Purah's eyes shifted over to Zelda, and instantly, Purah was quiet for probably the longest time since she had gotten younger. Then, without warning, she all but jumped on Zelda.

"Princess Zelda!" Purah exclaimed, and Zelda had about a half second to bend down to her height before Purah threw herself into Zelda's arms, "I knew you could do it! I knew you could beat that pig head!"

Without warning, she turned on Link, "But _this guy _had to take one hundred years to take a nap before he could save you! He made me wait!" She said this with a smile, turning back to Zelda and examining the Sheikah Slate on her hip, "And you have the Sheikah Slate! Have you seen all of the new runes and all of its new capabilities? It's _amazing!"_

"New… runes?" Zelda asked, picking up the slate from her hip.

"Well, yeah, didn't Linky tell you? It has Magnesis capabilities and Cryonis capabilities, and is capable of Stasis – oh – and it has _bombs!"_ Purah cried out, her arms making a large gesture over her head, "All thanks to yours truly!"

"Purah... you mean you _enhanced_ some of the runes... those runes were added by the shrines on the Great Plateau," Link interjected.

"Oh, same difference!"

Zelda looked at Link, "I didn't know the Sheikah Slate had those capabilities… I knew they had further use than the camera rune, and that they opened the shrines… but truly, I suppose I wouldn't have had any use for them."

"Well seeing as you use the camera rune the most," Purah paced, making her way over towards the Guidance Stone, "perhaps that rune could be upgraded – you know, I was able to upgrade the Stasis and the bomb runes for Linky on his journey; the stasis lasted longer, and the bombs went from 'boom' to 'ka-boom'! – I'm sure there could be features on the camera rune that I could toy with. You know, I had been trying to figure out a way to make _moving pictures_; with color and sound too!"

"Moving pictures…" Zelda mused, looking at Purah, "How could that be possible… would you be able to do that?"

Purah laughed, "With all due respect, Princess, don't insult me. _Of course I can do it!"_

Purah all but snatched the Sheikah Slate from Zelda's hands, turning it over in her hands, "If the technology works the way that I think it will work, I should have it done within a week! Come back to me within a week! Come back before then, we have much to catch up on, but expect the slate back within a week!"

Purah was already walking back to her worktable; her eyes hyper focused on the Sheikah Slate in her hands, the princess all but forgotten behind her. Purah meant well, but her love for Sheikah technology was overpowering, and Link and Zelda found themselves taking second place.

A gentle hand found its way to the small of Zelda's back. Link was laughing under his breath, leading her out the door, "We'll come back another time."

Once outside, Link turned back towards Zelda, "She can get like that sometimes… her attention span is limited, especially when she is given Sheikah technology to play with."

"To be completely honest," Zelda said, a small smile on her lips, "That much hasn't changed in one hundred years."

The next few days found Link and Zelda in a gentle routine. Link would wake up first, and would make breakfast each morning for the two of them. Zelda would wake to the smells and sounds of breakfast, and would quickly join him, coming out of her haze from sleep. He would then pack away some leftovers from breakfast for lunch later that day, and they would head out, either on horseback through the woods, or they would make their way to Hateno Beach, or they would make their way up the mountainside, the sights of the Hateno Tower and the Hateno Ancient Tech Lab keeping them oriented. Overall, it was calm; it was peaceful.

It was normal.

Her nightmares plagued her less and less, and she found that on the rare occasion that they did, they were not nearly as intense as they used to be. Their second night in Hateno Village, Link had set up his bedroll on the first floor, but it wasn't long until he found himself on the second floor of his Hateno home; his arm around his princess, his nose buried in her hair. By the third night, he just walked up the stairs with her to bed, and by the fourth night, all of his stuff was brought up as well. Their routines were turning to habit, their behavior getting more and more intimate. The fifth night found them face-to-face, holding each other close, falling asleep in the faint glow of the moon, and fighting away the Hateno chill. Link tilted his head up and pressed his lips gently to Zelda's forehead, whispering goodnight on her forehead, his breath hot against the Hateno night air. A gentle goodnight, and they were both asleep, both dreaming of this thing between them.

And that's exactly what it was: a thing between them that crackled with electricity, bursting at the seams. It was far beyond friendship but short of love. But boy, was it moving its way there: him, awaiting her quiet expression over the loft after she woke up, sleepy and bemused; her, feeling tingles of electricity when he placed his hand on her back, leading her through town; him, leaving small kisses on her forehead and temples as she fell asleep; her, pretending to be asleep, savoring the feeling of his one hand on her hip, the other on her chin, legs intertwined, lips trailing her forehead.

They were falling in love all over again.

One cool autumn day found the pair, riding horseback together around Lake Jarrah, Zelda leading on her horse in front of Link's in the shadow of the Hateno Tower. Her breath was visible in the air as she breathed in the cool Necluda air, and sighed, feeling truly free for the first time in one hundred years. It was liberating for her not only just to get out of Link's Hateno home, but to leave of her own freewill; to ride to wherever her heart's content, and her knight would follow her, no matter where she went.

She would never have to be alone again, if she so wished.

They stopped for lunch just off the road, an old Bokoblin camp just in the distance, but since the defeat of Calamity Ganon, it stood empty, with no trace of where they had gone or what happened to them. If Zelda had to guess, she would have imagined they had puffed up in a cloud of smoke the second Calamity Ganon was defeated. She had yet to see a single monster since Ganon's demise, and as far as she knew, they had all since gone extinct.

Link pulled out a thermos, filled with a steamy vegetable soup to help combat the autumn chill. He had set up a blanket in the shade of a tree, the fauna and wildlife surrounding them on all sides. He poured the two bowls and handed one to Zelda, staring up at the Hateno Tower.

It came upon her on a whim, an impulse decision.

"I think I want to cut my hair short."

Link choked on his soup, coughing violently, his face turning a light shade of red, "You… you _what?"_

"Oh, don't be so dramatic. It's just hair, and I can do what I will with it," Zelda said.

"Yes, you can," Link backtracked, "It's just that I've never seen you with short hair."

"That's irrelevant."

"Okay, well how short do you want it? Like a couple inches, or…"

"Probably as short as your hair; maybe shorter."

"Okay, well we can head into town tomorrow maybe and have one of the ladies cut it at the salon."

"Do you have your pocketknife on you?"

"_Excuse me?"_

"I'll just cut it myself," Zelda argued, taking a bite of her soup, "I'll just take it all off in one big swoop."

"Zelda," Link groaned, "If you do that, it might be uneven. Just have one of the ladies at the salon do it, they'll be able to make sure it looks even."

"Well, don't you cut your own hair?" Zelda countered.

"Well, I, yes," Link stammered, "But I have a lot of practice."

"Well it can't be that hard, and even if I mess up, it'll just grow back," Zelda said, a note of finality in her voice. She held out her hand, expectantly, "your pocketknife, please."

Link sighed, exasperated, and running a hand over his face, "If you're going to cut it now, at least let me do it. You won't be able to get the back of it right, and at least I have some practice."

"Well, I suppose that's as good of a compromise as I'm going to get," Zelda smirked, flipping her hair towards her knight.

She found herself sitting cross-legged on the blanket, her Hylian hood discarded in her lap, out of the way. Her knight was on his knees behind her, running his hands through her hair, combing out any tangles. He pulled out his pocketknife from his bag and flipped it open, running his hand through her hair again.

"Are you sure you want me to do this?" Link asked, "Once it's cut, it's going to take a long time to grow back. I just don't want you to hate it, is all."

"Link, just do it."

Slowly, Link grabbed the hair at her neck in one hand, bringing it all together. He took his pocketknife, and carefully began cutting it across in one big swoop. As the hair was cut, the silk strands fell apart in his hand, like golden strings of a magnificent harp. With his own hair, he was much quicker, hacking the hair off, not really caring if he cut it uneven or messy. But with Zelda's hair, he took his time, making sure that her hair was even all the way across. With one final tug, the last of the hair broke off, and he was left with a golden ponytail in his left hand. He dropped the knife and handed the ponytail to her. She pulled out a small mirror and took a look.

"Well, what do you think?"

Her hair fell above her shoulders, uneven in places, despite Link's attempts, but it didn't matter. It was everything she had wanted. She looked entirely different yet completely the same.

She felt _free._

No longer was she Zelda, Princess of Hyrule. Now, she was Zelda, whose priorities included Hyrule, but were not limited to that. Zelda, who happened to be the princess of a kingdom lost to the wild, a princess _of _the wild. Zelda, who liked studying nature and riding horseback with her knight. Zelda, who liked long walks on the beach in the twilight. Zelda, who could eat her and Link's combined weight in fruitcake. And she could be all of this, and with short hair.

She turned around, "I love it."

And Link saw it too; she was glowing. Zelda, princess of the wild, free at last.

What happened next was a near out of body experience. Before he could think to stop himself, he leaned into his princess and captured her lips with his, running his hands through her newly cut hair. She froze, and for a moment, he realized he made a mistake; that he took things too far, but no more than a second later was the princess kissing him back, grabbing at the front of his tunic, her ponytail all but forgotten, nearly blowing off into the wild. He grabbed her waist gently and laid them down side by side on the blanket, slowly kissing her. Time seemed to stop in this moment, and for the first time in a century, the hero and the princess finally found peace.

They would make their way back to Hateno Village later, stealing kisses whenever their horses came up next to each other. By the time they made it back to Link's home, it was dusk, and the sun was setting over a picturesque Hateno Village. Link stabled the horses next to his home, rounding the corner and placing another kiss on Zelda's lips. Link reached for the front door.

A deep rumble filled the air.

The ground shook violently.

Zelda lost her balance and fell to the ground. Link instinctually fell next to her, grabbing her in his arms. Zelda looked up and gasped, pointing towards the east from Link's house. Link looked up and blanched, following where she was pointing,

Off in the distance, the Hateno Tower was shaking, threatening to fall.

But instead of toppling to the side, they watched the Sheikah tower sink lower and lower, until with a desolating thud, it had sunk completely back into the ground.


	6. Chapter 6

Malice

By: dontwaitupxx

* * *

Chapter Six

* * *

They were running, as fast as their feet would take them. They were climbing up the hill in Hateno Village, seemingly faster and faster as the hill grew steeper and steeper. On their way up the hill, they had paused briefly at what had once been the Myahm Agana Shrine, now completely buried who knew how far into the ground, with rocks and dirt caved in over it.

They ran, hand in hand, Link leading Zelda up the hill, and it took all of her willpower to keep herself from remembering that fateful day one hundred years prior, in the Bottomless Swamp. The circumstances were so similar; she couldn't help but feel an intense sense of déjà vu at this.

History couldn't already be repeating itself; it was just written.

As they made their way up the winding hill, Link paused, gazing out over Hyrule next to an apple tree. It wasn't clear what he was looking at, only that he seemed to be looking in the general direction of Vah Naboris.

He looked at her then, a terrified look on his face, "The Wasteland Tower has disappeared as well. Between the Dueling Peaks and Mount Lanayru, most of Hyrule is blocked out from view here in Hateno," Link sighed, a bitter smile on his face, "Because that was the whole point of coming to Hateno in the first place. Ironically enough though, one of the only other towers visible from Hateno is the Wasteland Tower, on the clear other side of Hyrule."

It was unspoken in the air, because neither of them wanted to admit it: it seemed all of the towers and shrines had sunken back into the ground.

The unanswered question: why?

Best-case scenario, the shrines and the towers had sunk back into the ground, because with the Calamity Ganon defeated, there no longer was a use for them. Sheikah technology was like that: convenient at its worst and artificially intelligent at its best. This could be the latter: with the threat of Calamity Ganon vanquished, the Sheikah technology knew its purpose was complete, and automatically sank back into the ground.

Worst-case scenario: there was something darker, more sinister, more terrifying looming over the horizon.

And the princess and the hero could only guess as to what that may be.

Link grabbed Zelda's hand again and tugged her back up the hill, towards the Hateno Ancient Tech Lab. Surely Purah had felt the earthquake and surely she had seen all of Hyrule go dark. If anyone knew what was happening, it was she.

As they approached the lab, the sun had nearly set, the twilight casting an eerie glow on the village. However, both Link and Zelda clearly spotted Purah's twin buns poking out from behind her massive telescope on the side of the lab. Link, still holding Zelda's hand, brought them around to the side of the lab where the stairs were, and began climbing them towards the six-year-old Sheikah.

Purah, hearing their arrival, turned to the duo and gave them a wave, "Linky! Princess! Come take a look!" She shimmied her way off of the stool to make way for them, "The Central Tower and the Tabantha Tower have sunk back into the ground! Not to mention the Hateno Tower and the Wasteland Tower, as well as probably all of them, now that I think about it – and the shrines! – the shrines are all gone too!"

"Yeah, we saw," Link muttered, turning towards the Sheikah, "Do you have any idea what might have caused this?"

"Well, _yes,_ of course I do!" Purah said, with a snap, "Based on my research, the Ancient Sheikah designed the Towers, Shrines, the Slate, the Guardians, the Divine Beasts – all of it! – to combat Calamity Ganon. The first and last time they fought him ten thousand years ago, they were successful, and within days of the final battle with the princess and the hero, the technology all went dormant, powering off, not sensing the Calamity any longer, and going back into the ground. Now, obviously, something as big as the Divine Beasts can't just dive headfirst into the ground and bury itself – wouldn't that be funny? Just seeing Vah Naboris or Vah Medoh over the horizon now dive headfirst into the ground? That would be amazing! That would be incredible! That would be –"

"-catastrophic," Link supplied, a small smile on his face, "I think we would have had a much bigger earthquake than the one we had just now if the Divine Beasts made their way underground."

"Yeah, well, details, details…" Purah waved her hand at him, dismissing the notion.

Zelda had a strange look on her face, "So Purah," she began, "You're saying that all of the Sheikah technology used to combat Calamity Ganon has just gone dormant?"

"Yes."

"So the Divine Beasts have also gone dormant?"

"Well, I can't say one hundred percent for certain, since I cannot inspect one up close at the moment."

"Do the village elders and leaders know of this?"

"No, but I would imagine they would be able to figure it out quickly enough."

"And then what of the Sheikah Slate?"

"What of it?"

"You said all the technology has gone dormant… has the Sheikah Slate as well?"

Purah was silent for a long moment, frozen in place. Then, like a volcano erupting, the six-year-old Sheikah swore profanities at the sky, racing down the stairs back inside.

"Not the Sheikah Slate!" The girl wailed, throwing open the doors to her lab with a bang, with Link and Zelda hot on her heels.

Immediately upon entering the lab, Zelda noticed that the Guidance Stone on their left was dark, no longer glowing the bright ancient blue. Symin was in the back, hunched over a book, and Purah dove for the center worktable, grasping the Sheikah Slate in her two hands. The screen remained blank, passive, dormant.

"No…" Purah whispered, poking her little fingers at the blank screen of the Sheikah Slate, to no avail, "No, no, _no!"_ She all but threw the Sheikah Slate and picked up an exact replica of it next to it, poking at the screen to that one as well. As the first one did, this one did not respond either.

Purah sank in a chair, her feet dangling off the edge, not touching the ground, "No…" she whispered, "The past one hundred years, I have spent every second of every day researching this technology, replicating it, _perfecting_ it… and now I have nothing to show for it…"

Zelda sat in the chair adjacent to her old friend, "Well, that's not entirely true… you have your research notes, you have the slate that you replicated, albeit it not functioning…" Zelda paused, placing a hand on her friend's shoulder, "You've done Hyrule a great service already, and perhaps not all is lost. You've replicated the technology once; could you do it again?"

"I could replicate the Sheikah Slate time and time again, in my sleep," Purah sighed, "But without the ancient Sheikah energy to power it up, there's no way for it to turn on." Purah wiped a tear from her cheek, straightening up, "I had just perfected a new rune too. That moving picture, I had told you about, with sound and color. I dubbed it the 'video rune'. When you guys came up next, I was going to show it to you by demonstrating it. I had Symin record me on the Sheikah Slate describing it. You would have seen a little me in the slate, describing the rune."

"That sounds incredible," Zelda admitted, "You know, you're one of the smartest people I know," Zelda smiled, "I wouldn't be surprised if you could figure out a different, _new_ technology to power the slate up. It doesn't necessarily have to be Ancient Sheikah technology. It could be anything!"

"You know what?" Purah got to her feet, "You're right! I don't need Ancient Sheikah technology to power up my slate and my runes! They're _old_, anyways! I need _Modern_ Sheikah Technology! We're going to usher in a new wave of innovative technology, which will benefit the way of life of everyone in Hyrule! And it will be lead by the greatest Sheikah researcher of our time…!"

She had her hands up in the air at this point, as though waiting for fanfare. A beat. Two beats. Her smile vanished, and she cast a dirty look behind her to Symin, who was still engrossed in his book.

She cleared her throat, "I _said – _it will be lead by the greatest Sheikah researcher of our time…!"

Three beats. Four. Silence. Zelda and Link looked at each other, not quite sure what Purah was expecting.

"_Symin!_" Purah barked, and instantly his head came up from his book, disoriented.

"What is it?" He asked, confused.

"_That's… your… cue!"_ Purah hissed through her teeth.

"Oh… oh!" Symin immediately got up, and displayed his arms in the general direction of her, "_Purah!"_

Somehow, she managed to get confetti in her hands and threw them in the air above her head, bowing towards her imaginary audience, "Thank you, thank you! You're too kind!"

Throughout this fanfare, no one noticed Zelda's skin go pale, her skin clammy, her breath short.

Suddenly, Zelda grabbed Link's hand tightly, swaying slightly.

"Link…"

"Zelda!" He caught her around the waist, before she collapsed completely. A faint shiver went through her. Her skin was cold to the touch. He sat her up against the wall of the lab, kneeling in front of her. He placed a hand on her forehead, his hands around her jawline, trying to rouse her. Her eyes were clenched shut, a thin line of sweat forming at her brow.

"What is it? What's happening?" Both Purah and Symin coming in close, Purah kneeling beside the princess.

"I don't know…" Link shook his head, "Zelda, what's wrong? Talk to me."

He reached out to grasp her hand. She gasped, her eyes going wide, and before he could react, she was half crawling, half stumbling towards the front door of the lab. She turned around slightly, looking towards them, a haunted look in her eyes, and uttered a phrase that made Link's blood run cold.

"He's back."

Link saw it then, as Zelda stumbled towards the doors. Malice began to coat the air, thick and steamy and glowing and _red_. Zelda pushed open the doors of the lab, and Link finally found his legs from under him and ran after her, stumbling as he went. Outside, the winds were relentless, blowing from seemingly all directions. Zelda was up ahead on the hill, having fallen on her hands and knees. Link slid next to her, wrapping his arms around her, but she didn't seem to notice. Her focus was shifted upwards, up towards the night sky where the clouds were billowing and blowing violently against a crimson glow.

It was a full moon that night. It was full, and bright, and _red._

Link's stomach dropped.

"The blood moon…" Zelda whispered against the relentless winds, clutching her Hylian hood around her, shivering violently, "The blood moon has been a phenomena for the past century, reviving the agents of Calamity Ganon. With Calamity Ganon defeated, the phenomena should have ended its vicious cycle," Zelda clutched onto Link's arm around her waist, pivoting towards him, her eyes desperate and frantic, "Ganon isn't dead."

She turned her neck back up towards the blood moon, the color of which was beginning to transition to a light blue, "And he wants us to make no mistake in that knowledge. He wants us to know he's back."

A violent shiver from Zelda awoke Link's senses. He tried to pull Zelda up to her feet, but she was stuck where she was knelt, frozen in place.

"Zelda, come on, we need to get inside."

"He's back."

"Zelda, we don't know if there are monsters nearby."

"Hylia, goddesses, divines, please hear me."

Quickly, he scooped Zelda up in his arms and ran inside, nearly running Purah over in the process. He took her over to the fireplace and set her down next to it, a fire already cackling. He shrugged off his own Hylian hood and draped it around Zelda. He strode over to the backdoor in two quick strides and turned the deadbolt, and, without a falter in his step, made his way towards the front door and slid the wooden beam in place, effectively locking it. He turned around brusquely and planting himself on one of the stools, his head dropping to his hands, his breathing heavy, his eyes closing.

A moment or so passed, before Link straightened his back, rubbing his hand on his face. This entire time, Purah and Symin had been silent, still hovering by the front door of their own house, like they were interrupting something.

"Purah," Link said distantly, his voice cracking, "We defeated Ganon. We defeated is scourges in each of the Divine Beasts and then in Hyrule Castle. We fought his final form on the Hyrule Fields, which was pure hatred incarnate. Zelda sealed him away. Shouldn't this have been enough? Are we missing something? What more could be asked of us?"

Purah was silent for a long moment, before she spoke, "My sister wrote to me. I received the letter not two days ago. She spoke of how the princess believed there might be a chance that Ganon lives on. She said while it was not likely, that she would like for me to research any other ancient texts to see if we overlooked something. At the time, I thought this nonsense, but rather than go against my sister's wishes, I checked. According to legend, Calamity Ganon was sealed away ten thousand years ago, which is precisely what the two of you did. However," she paused, walking over to a pile of haphazardly strewn notes, "Ganon has been around for time evermore, like the souls of the hero and that of the goddess. By legend, he has held the tri-force of power, and has always been a cunning and ruthless villain. With that, he is conniving; he is intelligent, and his plans would not simply be linear. If he were to fail, he would not simply give up. He would have a backup plan.

"To gain an idea of what this may entail, I had to go back farther than ten thousand years ago. I had to go back, back to the age of Twilight. During this era, Ganon had taken the form of a Gerudo, and the Hero of Twilight used the Master Sword to eradicate him," Purah said, motioning to the sword on Link's back, "What I found myself wondering was what happened after that? There is a large gap in history from the events of Twilight and the events of ten thousand years ago. What was Ganon's incarnation directly before the events of ten thousand years ago?

"I searched high and low, and none of my texts or scriptures dictate anything of the sort. Was it important? Perhaps not; however…" Purah reached for a large dusty tome, placing it gently on the worktable, her fingers turning to a page already marked, "I was led to one text here in old, ancient Sheikah that I must have glossed over, regarding the architectural layout of the castle from between those two time periods. This phrase could not be found in more modern blueprints of the castle, so I thought, perhaps it's a mistake? More likely though, perhaps it was something the Royal Family and Ancient Sheikah wanted to forget. Upon first reading this specific paragraph, one section stood out to me. By translating it, it said the phrase 'castle foundations'. However, the way I was translating this was by ancient Sheikah texts of ten thousand years ago, not from when Hyrule Castle was first built. Hyrule Castle has stood there since near the beginning of recorded history. I looked at the text again, and the word 'castle' was much too formal just to mean castle. It dictated a place of high honor; a sanctum. And then the second word 'foundations' was too vague, too basic. Upon further review, the translation would be closer to basement. The entire translation would be –"

"Beneath the sanctum," Zelda whispered from her spot by the fire, her eyes never ceasing to watch the flames dance atop the wood.

"It is said that the Calamity Ganon first emerged deep beneath Hyrule Castle. I'm not sure what lies down there, but this may hold the answers that you seek. I will keep researching to see if I can find out what more lies down there."

The room was silent, save for the light howling against the walls of the lab. The theory was heavy, and it was backed up by the blood moon.

"Purah," Link stood, a bleakness in his eyes, "Why didn't you mention this before? Why didn't you immediately believe that we would want to be privy to this knowledge?"

"Link," Zelda interjected, his head snapping towards the princess, "prior to five minutes ago, we did not have any actual concrete evidence that Ganon had returned… or I guess not returned, since he hadn't been truly defeated at all. The event of the towers and shrines sinking into the ground should be seen as a good omen. It implies that the Sheikah technology no longer senses Calamity Ganon's presence…"

"If that's the case, then how do we explain the blood moon?" Link all but snapped, knowing rationally that he needed to get a hold on his emotions, "If the Sheikah technology doesn't sense Calamity Ganon, then how do we explain the blood moon?"

"It may be simpler than we believe," Purah whispered, "Ancient Sheikah technology is very specific. It doesn't sense the presence of the _calamity_, itself, however, if Ganon were to take on another form… in the age of Twilight, he was a man, or at least, taking the form of one."

"The calamity was a distraction," Zelda whispered, in realization, "It was a horrifying distraction for what's yet to come. Ganon has just been biding his time."

"Which is why I looked for what form he took in the events prior to the first calamity ten thousand years ago," Purah said, "If the calamity was just a distraction, then I would imagine what he is really trying to do is resurrect himself as he was before. I would head immediately to Kakariko Village to speak to my sister. She might know more about this. No texts specifically state if or what he was reincarnated as prior to his reincarnation as a calamity, but if his body was sealed away somewhere, what place is a stronger fortress than Hyrule Castle?"

"He's been there this whole time. My whole life…" Zelda felt sick, "This must mean…"

They were heading back: back to the place where it all began.

Back to Hyrule Castle.

* * *

They were silent on their walk back down the hill into the heart of Hateno Village. The two of them didn't have much more to say. What more could they say? They had fought against the Calamity in a one hundred year battle, and lost the lives of their family, friends, and their people. And yet it still was not enough.

They made their way to Link's Hateno home, their things still dropped haphazardly by the front door after their trek to Lake Jarrah. Zelda bent down to quickly pick them up, noticing that Link's stride didn't falter as he made his way inside, quickly lighting a lamp and taking a seat at the table, his head in his hands. It was late, nearly morning. They would need to start their preparations soon, to make their way to Hyrule Castle. Surely they would make a quick stop at Kakariko Village to inform Impa of what was going on.

However, the clock was ticking, and they didn't know how long they had until time was up.

They had to be careful, too. Though they hadn't confirmed it, the reawakening of the blood moon promised the resurrection of monsters in Hyrule. The past couple of weeks had been a paradise without them, a small era of peace. It had been false hope; a distraction of what was yet to come. It was meant for them to put their guards down; to be weak in preparation for Ganon's assault.

Link looked up at her, his face weary, and for the first time, he looked every bit of his one hundred years in age, "You should get some sleep. We'll need to head out in a few hours. Time is not on our side."

"Has it ever?" Zelda asked, though she expected no answer, "You should sleep too. I have a feeling in the days ahead of us that it'll be hard to come by."

"There's no way I'll be able to sleep tonight," Link muttered, turning his head towards the wall, looking at the weapons of the Champions, now lost, "Everything we have done… everything we have fought for, one hundred years ago up until now… we weren't even fighting the right battle. Ganon, wherever he is, has been biding his time, setting up distractions for us in the Divine Beasts and in the Castle. Distractions that got the champions killed and that I nearly died from. Had we known then what we know now… perhaps none of this would have happened."

"We don't know that for certain," Zelda tried to reason, but her voice was betraying her.

Link slammed his fist on the table, a vase toppling over, smashing onto the ground. Zelda jumped, "I've nearly lost you once," Link hissed through his teeth, daring not to look up at her, "I can't handle even the thought of losing you again. All of my memories could turn to dust; all of Hyrule could burn to the ground, but so long as you were safe, nothing else would matter. We've already won, or supposed to anyways, and now we have to fight again," his voice broke, and the next part came out in a whisper, "What more could fate want from us?"

There had never been a time, one hundred years ago or now, that Zelda had ever seen Link so vulnerable. She couldn't think of a time; he had always been so strong, and one hundred years prior, he had been impassive, stoic, never letting any emotions past his rough exterior. To see him now, pleading, in despair, was something so uncharacteristic to Link it nearly brought tears to the princess' eyes.

Gently, she placed a hand on his clenched fist, scooting closer to him on her bench. His eyes remained fastened to the table, blue eyes fierce and severe, putting up that wall he had become so accustomed to putting up.

"Link," Zelda whispered, giving his hand a small squeeze. He did not acknowledge it, "Link," she tried again, more forcefully, "Look at me. Please."

Slowly, he looked up, his face hard, never betraying anything. His eyes came to meet hers, "Zelda…"

"No, listen," Zelda interrupted, placing her other hand over Link's as well, "You're not going to lose me again. I'm right here. And I'll always be right here, by your side, this whole way through. Perhaps fate has been cruel to us. Perhaps we have already done our share of fighting. But none of that matters; what does matter is that the battle is not over yet, and there's no one else in the world better prepared for it than you or I. And if there's one thing I know for certain, it's that Ganon has never won. The hero and the princess have always been victorious, for time and time immemorial. Now I don't know about you, but I don't plan on letting that mean old pig face demon win this battle. Do you?"

"Never," Link said immediately, his eyes shining with intensity she had never seen before.

"And Link," Zelda said, her voice hinting at a slight quiver, "I would be lying if I said I wasn't scared. This is what I've been afraid of since Kakariko, since the start of those nightmares that hinted at Ganon's return; or rather, his lack of demise. But this time is different. This time, we're ready. We may not have the Champions or the Ancient Sheikah technology, but Ganon's been defeated before without them. We can make do.

"Now," she paused, taking in a deep breath, "Are you with me?"

"Always."


	7. Chapter 7

Malice

By: dontwaitupxx

* * *

Chapter Seven

* * *

The way to Kakariko Village hinted to something treacherous. Link and Zelda had left Hateno Village behind at the first light of dawn, wasting no time. They didn't know what was going to happen next. They didn't have a prophecy to go by. All they knew was that Ganon wasn't dead, a blood moon had risen, and with it, Ganon's agents and monsters had risen as well.

Purah's translations had been enlightening to the two of them, however Link knew from memory that it was an incomplete plan; beneath the sanctum lay the ancient observatory, where Link had faced the Scourge of Hyrule Castle. However, it was a round room, with no cracks or breaks in the Sheikah walls. It was a dead end. Link knew that he would be able to get the both of them down there somehow. He had flown down on his paraglider following the collapse of the Sanctum floor, and though they had never tried it, he was certain he could safely fly both of them down on one paraglider. The problem would be getting out. It was hundreds of feet below the Sanctum, and even if he still felt the presence of the Champions and their powers, he doubted that Revali's Gale would have been enough to fly them up and out of the observatory.

They truly didn't know where to go.

The night prior, after much urging and pleading Link to lie down and rest, Zelda had given up, and had tried to gain as much sleep as she could in the few hours they had left before first light. Link had sat there, at the kitchen table, for the rest of the night, contemplating everything they had found out with Purah. Truly, it gave them more questions than answers. Even after last night, they truly didn't have a plan to get under Hyrule Castle. Even if there had been a way before the Great Calamity one hundred years prior, the destruction that the castle had taken would have surely blocked off any passageways that would have led deep underground, and if Ganon had known about them, he surely would have destroyed them.

And so they quickly packed their things that morning, packing it onto their horses and made their way to Kakariko Village in silence. Purah didn't know of another way to get deep beneath the castle; she would have certainly told them had she known. So for now, all they had to go off of was "beneath the sanctum". Link had, against his wishes, unpacked his and Zelda's Champion Tunics, and had laid hers out for her upstairs on the loft. It would seem that their duties as the hero and the princess were not quite over yet.

As they passed Lake Jarrah, Link noticed in a cold displeasure that red, angry Bokoblins now inhabited the once abandoned Bokoblin tower. This didn't surprise him: he was well aware of the omens of a blood moon. However, it only further confirmed their fears and theories about Ganon. Zelda noticed them too, however, her face was contoured into something passive; steely, almost.

Both of them tried to ignore the jarring absence of the Hateno Tower.

Next to the Bokoblin camp was the little shade under the tree where Link and Zelda had sat with their picnic, where they had cut Zelda's hair, where they had kissed. It all felt like a lifetime ago, yet it was less than a day since then. They had naturally grown comfortable after the defeat of Calamity Ganon. And now that future, which she so desperately longed for, was snatched from her, with the potential to never return. It made her heart ache.

By the time they made it to Kakariko Village, it was early afternoon. The sun shined across the village, casting a warm glow on its villagers, as if the village was unaware of Ganon's presence. However, the Sheikah were a sharp group, and no doubt, every last one of them had seen the blood moon from the night before. As the princess and the hero rode their horses into Kakariko Village, they could tell that the Sheikah were back on their guard, as they had been for the one hundred years prior. No longer were they in a peaceful paradise after the defeat of Calamity Ganon.

They went to stable their horses briefly, though they wouldn't be in Kakariko for very long. As they approached Impa's home, Cado and Dorian stood guard. Cado nodded once, while Dorian gave them a small, sad smile, "Lady Impa is expecting you," Dorian said in a low tone.

"Thank you," Zelda said in a small voice, almost a whisper.

The two of them quickly made their way up the stairs and into Impa's home. Impa, expecting them, was seated on a cushion in the very center of the room, her eyes sharp on them. Two pillows had been placed in front of her, no doubt set there in preparation for the princess and the hero. It would seem the world saw the blood moon the night before and was waiting for their answer. All eyes were on them.

"We will make this quick, as we do not know how much time we have on our hands," Impa began, her gravely voice strong, yet quiet, "I am sure that the two of you already know this, but the phenomenon of the blood moon signifies an activity in Ganon's power. Thus: Ganon is still alive," she paused, inclining her head towards the east, "Though from our vantage points, it appears that Hyrule Castle is uninhabited by him, which suggests that he is out there somewhere, lurking…" she looked back towards the pair, "The columns that once held the Ancient Sheikah Guardians around Hyrule Castle have sunk back into the ground, as have all of the Towers across the region and the numerous shrines that dotted the countryside," Impa nodded towards Link and Zelda, "I see neither of you are in possession of the Sheikah Slate. I received word early this morning from a Zora courier that Divine Beast Vah Ruta has ceased functionality. I would imagine that the other Divine Beasts are in a similar state, and I would imagine that the Sheikah Slate is as well. Am I correct in this theory?"

"Yes," Zelda whispered, her face impassive.

"By itself," Impa continued, "The act of the Sheikah technology going dormant shouldn't be of any concern to us. However, coupled with the rise in Ganon's power, leaves us some cause for concern. It appears we will not have the Ancient Sheikah technology to help us combat Ganon. The question is, where is he?"

"We spoke with Purah last night, after the shrines and the towers sank," Zelda began, "She said that you had written to her asking to research any other ancient texts to see if we had missed something," Impa nodded, "She researched what had happened to Ganon in his prior incarnation, which led her to a text describing the foundations of Hyrule Castle, and the translation of one of the passages translated to 'beneath the Sanctum'. Seeing as Ganon first emerged deep beneath Hyrule Castle, we might find a clue or the whereabouts to Ganon there… I've also been thinking about the translation Purah gave us," Zelda continued on, "It doesn't make any sense. 'Beneath the sanctum' is the ancient observatory where Link fought the Scourge of Hyrule Castle. It is a dead end."

"I wonder…" Impa implored, running a hand on her chin, "What did Purah translate it into first?"

"She translated the phrase as 'castle foundations'".

"Of course," Impa breathed, "We have been blind to it this entire time, yet it has been right under our noses."

Impa stood up and made her way to a small bookshelf housing ancient tomes, looking as though they would fall apart at the smallest touch. She grabbed one off the side and made her way back towards them, leafing through the delicate pages.

"Both translations are correct, though 'beneath the sanctum' is much more specific than the first," She made her way to a specific page and pointed, "The foundations of Hyrule Castle were built upon the ruins of an ancient Zonai city, long forgotten to history millennia ago. They were a tribe of magic users whose mysterious disappearance is still something scholars today are still trying to figure out."

"An ancient Zonai city…" Zelda mused, "Why haven't I heard about this before?"

"This knowledge has been privy to only the Sheikah leaders, passed down from generation to generation since Hyrule Castle has been standing. This knowledge has never been shared because there was an escape route created through the Zonai city ruins from Hyrule Castle to the wild. Not even the King and Queen of Hyrule knew about this route, for their safety. I only became privy to this knowledge moments after the Calamity had struck one hundred years ago, however, the passageway had caved in."

"And so my father was unable to escape," Zelda whispered.

Impa nodded, "This ancient Zonai city beneath Hyrule Castle would be the more broad version of the translation, it is, quite literally, the 'castle foundations', however, if we get more specific, the sanctum of Hyrule Castle is a place blessed by the Goddess Hylia herself. While Hyrule Castle is the most fortified stronghold in all of history, the strongest place would be beneath the sanctum, beneath the great Goddess Hylia's powers, where they are at their strongest. I have no doubt that should Ganon be trapped beneath Hyrule Castle, he would have been trapped deep underground, directly beneath the sanctum."

"How can we get to this Zonai city if the passage is blocked off," Link asked.

"Well this passage was an escape route. All escape routes lead somewhere," Impa explained, "As to where this path emptied out, its location has drifted throughout Hyrule's history… if memory serves me correctly…" Impa quickly turned through the pages of the tome in her hands, "Yes, here it is, it would have led out through the Sealed Temple."

"I have never come across a Sealed Temple," Link said, "I have trekked through every bit of this land since I awoke, and I have never come across anything with that name."

"And that's where you're wrong, _hero,_" Impa said, with a small grin on her face, "For in this lifetime, no, you have not been inside the Sealed Temple, but in _another_ lifetime, you have. In this lifetime, this temple has been all but forgotten, and has fallen through the plates of the ground: out of sight and out of mind. It is the Forgotten Temple, the place of the oldest and first statue of the Goddess Hylia, withstanding the test of time."

"I have been there," Link murmured, "That's where the Rona Kachta shrine is… was."

"Yes, and I believe you'll find your entrance there," Impa said, "So long as it is still intact. This Forgotten Temple is far away, to the northwest, near the Tabantha Tundra below the Hebra Mountains. It is west of the Great Hyrule Forest, and far, far away from Hyrule Castle. The Ancient Zonai had eye for labyrinths and puzzles, as you can see with the labyrinths throughout the land and the Thyphlo Ruins, so I think you will find much of that as you transverse this ancient city. The two of you have an incredibly long journey ahead. Only the Goddess Hylia knows of what resides down in the ancient catacombs. While it is hopeful to believe that it has been left uninhabited, it is also naïve. Should Ganon be sealed away down there, I would assume that he would be heavily guarded. You'll want to be prepared."

She paused before continuing, "Though time is of the essence, I would advise the two of you to stay in Kakariko Village for the night, to pack and gather supplies before heading out tomorrow. The villagers here will help you in any way that they can. You two have been through more than anyone should have to endure in one lifetime, and now we are asking you two to endure more. We are counting on both of you to save Hyrule once again."

The two of them left soon after that, making their way down the stairs of Impa's home. Link's mind was calculating, trying to figure out how much time it would take to get to the Forgotten Temple, how much distance they would cross, potentially how long the distance would be in the escape route…

He needed a map.

Instinctually, he grabbed for the Sheikah Slate on his belt, only to remember that it wasn't there, that it wasn't functional, and that he wouldn't be able to rely on it any longer. No longer would he have access to any of the runes, the magnesis rune, the stasis rune, the cryonis rune, and the endless amount of bombs at his disposal. He would need to get creative, and figure out a workaround without the runes.

He could only hope there wasn't a big metal door in his way that wouldn't move.

"Dorian," he called over to the Sheikah man, "Do you have an up to date map of Hyrule?"

"I have a map," Dorian began, "However, it is from the days before the Great Calamity. Since Ganon struck, no one has been able to create a more up to date map."

"It'll do," Link said, "Does it have an accurate scale on it?"

"Yes," Dorian nodded, "I believe so, anyways. Let me go grab it for you."

As Dorian hurried off, Zelda came up on Link's side, "Link," she gently touched his arm, "What can I do to help?"

Link paused, looking around Kakariko Village, "Could you grab a basket and begin collecting apples for the horses? We will find apple trees on our way there, but to start out with we'll need some," He paused, thinking, "Also, how good are you with a bow and arrow?"

Had he gained more memories than just the fragments from his life before, he would have remembered that Zelda had partaken in archery lessons since childhood, and was quite good, if she did say so herself. As the Calamity grew nearer, she spent less and less of her time practicing. She felt confident in her abilities, even if it had been a century since she had last picked one up.

"I'm quite proficient in the bow and arrow, why do you ask?"

Link paused, looking at her briefly, "You know what we're about to do is dangerous, more dangerous than anything we have ever done before. I will protect you, no matter what, but I want to be sure that you can defend yourself if I fall and I'm not able to."

"Link," Zelda grabbed his hand, "We can do this. We've always defeated Ganon, time and time again. We will defeat him once more."

"I know this," Link muttered under his breath, looking away from her, "But it only takes one mistake, and we don't know what we're up against. Please, just head over to The Curious Quiver and see if Rola can set you up with something. Also, I know they specialize in bows and arrows, but if she has a dagger for sale as well, grab one of those as well."

"Okay," Zelda sighed, letting go of his hand, "Is there anything else I can do?"

Link contemplated this for a moment, "How good are you at cooking?"

Again, had Link remembered more than just bits and pieces from before, he would have remembered that Zelda had never once had to cook a day in her life. She had people to do that for her. Every attempt she had made had turned out to be disastrous.

But of course, he didn't remember, and so he asked.

And as far as Zelda was concerned, she was going to be very helpful, in whatever ways she could.

"I'm a very good cook," Zelda said proudly, trying to cover up the lie and the way her voice stuttered slightly and the way her eyes blinked rapidly.

"Good," Link said, not noticing, "See if you can get some Hylian rice and some mushrooms and meat and make some Mushroom Rice Balls and some Meaty Rice Balls, probably about half and half of each, and then pack them tightly in paper. Those should preserve well and last us for a while."

"How many should I make?"

"As many as you can. I'm not sure how long we'll be gone for."

With that, Dorian came up to the two of them, with a scroll held between two hands. Link grabbed it from him, and opened it, looking at the wide map of Hyrule. Dorian wasn't kidding when he said this map was from before the Great Calamity. The map itself was scattered with different towns and villages; Link recognized Deya Village and Goponga Village, and Mabe Village, and Gatepost Town, and the Tabantha Village, and countless other villages and towns with little yellow dots next to their names. Now they were all in ruins, having been massacred by the Great Calamity.

He took the map over to a nearby boulder and set it down, overlooking it with Dorian, "So we are here, in Kakariko Village," Link placed a finger on the village, "and we need to make our way here," Link placed another finger on the opposite side of the map in an unmarked trench, where the Forgotten Temple lay, "And according to this map, it is scaled one centimeter to one kilometer, and laying that amount of space between Hyrule Castle and the Forgotten Temple, there's at least ten kilometers of tunnels, but that's given that it goes in a linear path…" Link's shoulders slumped, "We have a long way to go..."

Zelda had made her way over to The Curious Quiver and opened the door. Inside, Rola was tending to a new bow. When she heard the door open, she looked up, about to give out a greeting, when she came face to face with the Princess of Hyrule herself.

The bow dropped to the floor, forgotten.

"Princess Zelda!" Rola said, coming around the corner from the counter, giving a short bow, "It is an honor to have you in my shop. How can I assist you?"

"Please," Zelda smiled, "You can just call me Zelda. I am in need of a bow and arrows. What do you have?"

"Only the finest in Sheikah craftsmanship!" Rola gushed, running back behind the counter, "This bow I have just been polishing up. It is, quite truly, one of the most remarkable bows I have ever crafted. The bow shoots straight and true. You'll be hard pressed to find a bow that shoots farther than this one."

"I'll take it," Zelda said immediately, surprising Rola, "What kind of arrows do you have?"

"Well we have standard arrows, of course, but then here in Kakariko Village, we specialize in fire arrows! Regular arrows are one for five rupees or five for twenty rupees, and fire arrows are one for twenty rupees and five for eighty rupees!"

"I'll take them all!"

Rola's jaw dropped to the floor.

"By the way, do you happen to sell daggers here?"

Soon after, Zelda had completely cleared The Curious Quiver of all its merchandise, and Zelda was now sporting a new Sheikah bow, exquisitely designed, with a quiver full of standard and fire arrows. In her hands, she twirled around a beautiful ornate Sheikah dagger, its blade curved slightly and pointed at the end. It was a beautiful work of craftsmanship, and she hated the idea of using it in combat, but she supposed that was its intended use. On her way across the road to the market, she looked to her right to where Link and Dorian were still huddled over the map, planning and strategizing. There was a slight chill in the air. The autumnal equinox had passed, and it was only going to get colder from here on out as Hyrule made its way to a bitter winter. She tugged her Hylian hood around her tightly.

Zelda opened the door to High Spirits Produce, and stepped inside, basking in the warmth from the market. There was an elderly Sheikah lady in the back, Trissa, unpacking some crates of food and produce. She looked up and smiled at Zelda.

"Welcome, my dear," Trissa said, and it was a welcome delight to not be called 'princess', "What can I do for you?"

"Link sent me to grab some ingredients for our journey. We need Hylian rice, mushrooms of any kind, and meat of any kind. Do you have any of that in stock?"

"I'm afraid we don't carry any meat here," Trissa explained, an apology on her face, "However we just got a stock in of Hylian rice as well as some Hylian mushrooms and Hearty Truffles. How much of that would you be interested in?"

"All of it," Zelda said, "We're not sure how long we are going to be gone for, nor how much we will be able to acquire while we are out on the road. We need to be able to pack away as much food as possible."

Which then led Zelda outside of the market next to the cooking pot, with Hylian rice in one hand and a Hylian mushroom in the other. She had never done this before. She supposed She would just try putting them in the pot and stirring them.

She placed them in the pot and grabbed the ladle nearby, beginning to stir them together. Something wasn't quite right, though. The rice was beginning to turn brown, and the mushroom was leaving dark specs in the pot, as though it was covered in dirt.

Well, they had come from the ground. Was she supposed to wash them?

No matter, she would just continue to try and sauté the mushrooms. But while she was doing that, the rice began to burn on the side of the pot, turning a black color and creating a dark sort of smoke. She wasn't exactly sure what she needed to do next, but grabbed the wooden pot lid next to the pot and put it on top. Perhaps it just needed to retain the heat and cook longer.

All was well for the next two seconds, until the pot lid began to smoke and quickly blacken, before instantaneously catching on fire, roaring in a bright orange flame against the dry wood.

Zelda squeaked and crawled backwards, wondering vaguely at what point did she go wrong. No sooner than this happened was Link in front of her, lifting the pot lid off with the end of his sword and placing it on the ground, stomping out the fire with his boot. By the time he had put out the fire, there was smoke nearly all around them, dissipating into the air.

He turned back towards her, worry but a hint of amusement in his eyes, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Zelda pushed herself back up to her feet, "I'm just a little rusty on cooking. It's been one hundred years, you know?"

Link looked into the cooking pot, seeing the rice and mushrooms completely blackened, "Zelda, the entire thing burned to a crisp."

He looked at her again, and she saw his eyes go from amusement to wonder as he looked at her, staring. It was a full ten seconds before he spoke again, "Zelda, you can't cook."

"Well, this was just one time, Link, I-"

"No, Zelda," Link interrupted her, an excited look in his eyes, "You can't cook; you've _never _been able to cook! You burned that fruitcake back at the castle! We were in the castle kitchens, and you wanted to make a fruitcake, but it was the middle of the night, and you didn't want to wake any of the chefs. You told me, 'how hard can it be?' And you started to make it, and it was going fine until you put it in the oven, and I don't know how you did it, but you burned the fruitcake and it came out pooled in this black pool of liquid with the consistency of goo. Zelda, I _remember _that!"

Zelda let out a small laugh, "Out of all the things to suddenly remember, of _course_ you remembered the time I burned the fruitcake. And it was _one time_, I can still cook."

"Well," Link grinned, stealing a kiss, "I'd bet to wager that I'm a better cook than you."

As their playful banter continued, Link took over the cooking and Zelda went to pick apples for the horses. As they didn't have any meat, they figured that they could hunt for game while out on the road, and cook with the rice at a stable on the way. They would need to be quick though, as it was only getting colder with each passing day.

They spent the night back at the inn much like their first night in Kakariko, but instead of two rooms, they just got one. This was met with a raised eyebrow from the innkeeper, but no words were said about it. Zelda was certain that people would talk, but did it matter? No.

Link fell asleep quickly, which Zelda wasn't surprised about, given that he hadn't slept at all the night before. What did surprise her was how deep of a sleep he had gone in, with even so much as a slight snore.

Zelda, however, wasn't so lucky, and found herself tossing and turning in the night, unable to sleep. Carefully, she made her way out of Link's arms and made her way to the window, opening it quietly and slipping out. She sat down on the roof of the inn, much like she had the first night she was in Kakariko Village after defeating the calamity.

Tomorrow, they would be making their way towards northwest Hyrule, to the Forgotten Temple, which may or may not have a secret entrance underground that led to an ancient Zonai city beneath Hyrule Castle that may or may not house Ganon's remains from a previous incarnation. It was a crazy plan, one that was based solely on the fact that the blood moon had risen once again which told them Ganon wasn't dead. That was the only concrete information that they had. Everything else was pure speculation, based off of fragments of ancient text that may or may not have been translated correctly. But they had nothing else to go off of. And with the threat looming, they had to do _something_.

Zelda breathed in the cool Kakariko Village air and sighed.

_They had to do something._


	8. Chapter 8

Malice

By: dontwaitupxx

* * *

Chapter Eight

* * *

They left the following morning with heavy packs and heavy hearts. Link had estimated that it would take no more than a week to make their way towards the Tabantha region where the Forgotten Temple lay in wait. They prepared rations for the two of them for a month's time, however, Link fully planned on scouting for game and vegetables while they were still above ground. That meant that they had rations for their trip through the temple and underneath Hyrule for up to a month. It was a little overkill, he had to admit, but truly he had no idea how long it would take or what they would come across down there.

The morning they left, there was a fine sheet of frost on the tips of the grass in Kakariko Village. By mid-morning, it would surely have melted, however, it was an omen hinting towards a cold winter coming with haste. They had packed numerous sets of warm clothes and blankets for their journey, especially as they got closer to the Tabantha and Hebra regions, where it was naturally colder and more brisk year-round.

They planned for their first stop to be at the Riverside Stable, just past the Dueling Peaks. Looking at the map, Link had noticed and Dorian had agreed that going down the Sahasra Slope would have been quicker, and taken off a half a day's time from their journey, however, with the Princess making this journey with him as well, he didn't want to risk any injury going down the treacherous slope. So they opted for the more safe approach to the south, and through the Dueling Peaks. From there, they could head straight to the northwest through the Hyrule Fields towards the Forgotten Temple.

They knew that the blood moon had revived all of the monsters of Ganon across Hyrule, but they had yet to see if any of the Guardians had been revived under his power as well. Link assumed and hoped not, since they were machines. But he planned to keep a close eye on the Hyrule plains for any moving automations, and had a detour planned just in case.

Before they left, Impa met them at the door to her home. She was brief in her words, "You must not fail. Hyrule cannot withstand any more damage caused by Ganon. The fate of Hyrule now rests in your hands."

With that, they both donned their Hylian hoods as they head out of Kakariko on their horses, looking back with almost a peaceful look on their faces. Although underneath, the anxiety of what they had to do crawled under their skin like insects under the floorboards. They had failed Hyrule, and they had to save her yet again.

The two of them were riding side by side down the hill towards the Kakariko Bridge. As they rode, the road was completely deserted, with no travelers or merchants creating traffic. It wasn't until they made their way closer to the bridge that Zelda noticed a small woman standing under a tree, looking in their direction as they rounded the corner. The woman was smiling at them, a bright look in her eyes, and even waved to the two. Zelda nearly put her arm up to wave back at the traveler, but Link stopped her arm immediately, an intense look in his eyes.

He leaned over towards her, whispering in her ear, "Hide your face in your hood. Don't let her see your face," his hand twitched towards the Master Sword, but made no move to unsheathe it, hoping that they could get past without the woman noticing.

"Link, what do you-"

"Zelda," Link said, almost harshly. It silenced her, "Don't respond to anything she says. Just keep riding towards the bridge. If you hear a fight break out, ride as fast as you can to the stables and don't stop until you get there. Do you understand?"

Zelda nodded once, tilting her head downwards so that way her face was hidden in the shadows of the hood. Link moved his horse towards the other side of her, so that way he was closer to the traveler. He sped up his horse slightly, bringing Zelda up with him to a gentle trot, so that way the intent was clear that they did not mean to stop.

The traveler, however, was insistent, "Hey, there! You two!" She said, a cadence in her voice, "Did you two see the blood moon the other night? It was simply _amazing!"_

The hero and the princess did not stop, making their way towards the bridge. They could see the outline of the Dueling Peaks stable from here, smoke rising from a chimney and from a fire pit. The absence of the shrine was jarring, a pile of rubble from the ground in its place. The people from the stable were beginning to wake up in the dawn of the morning, milling about and beginning about their day.

The traveler persisted, "You two know of the spectacle of the blood moon, right? It revives all the agents of Ganon throughout the land! But I had heard that the hero and the princess finally defeated Ganon in Hyrule Castle, isn't that right?"

The two did not answer, finally making it to the bridge, and in turn, directly next to the traveler in question.

Zelda spared the traveler a glance. The traveler had a malicious look in her eyes, a grin spreading from ear to ear. She made eye contact and her grin grew even wider, "But of course, with the blood moon making an appearance, it proved to all of us that Ganon is very much alive, that the hero and the princess failed in defeating Ganon," The traveler reached one hand into her cloak, never breaking eye contact, "That haircut looks very fetching on you, if you don't mind me saying, Princess. It's a shame that none of your friends will be able to see it at your funeral, since _they're all dead."_

A smack sounded behind her, a malicious sounding laugh, and suddenly, Zelda was catapulted forward on her horse like she was shot out of a canon. Her horse was running in a frenzied state, off towards the stables and away from the traveler and her knight. Behind her, Link had back flipped off of his horse, Master Sword already in hand, and was facing the now fully clad Yiga. The Yiga held a vicious looking sickle in one hand, a mask with an inverted eye now covering their face. The Yiga made the first move, using a sort of dark magic to disappear in the air right before Link's eyes.

This was not the first Yiga Link had faced, nor would it be the last, and he knew that the Yiga would try to land behind him for a sneak attack. They were incredibly predictable in that regard, all of them being trained in the same fighting style, the same moves, and the same old tricks. He turned one hundred and eighty degrees on his heels and struck his sword out, but found himself parrying as the Yiga came in towards his left side. He twisted the sword, locking the sickle in place, and rammed his side into the Yiga, effectively stunning him momentarily. With one step, he leaned forward, still holding the sickle at bay with the Master Sword, and punched the Yiga in the skull with his free hand, a resonating crack sounding throughout the canyon. The Yiga let go of the sickle, stumbling backwards and clutching his head. Link flipped the sword in his hand, fortifying his grip on it, and went in for the final blow before the Yiga disappeared into thin air again, the Master Sword being plunged deeply into the ground beneath him.

The two seconds that it took for Link to yank the Master Sword out of the ground was all the time the Yiga needed to reappear with a second sickle raised above his head behind Link, going in for the kill. Link had not the time to turn around before –

A sound much like a piercing chime resonated around the canyon, and from behind Link, the Yiga fell, an arrow sticking out from the center of their forehead, blood beginning to ooze from the wound.

Looking towards the Kakariko Bridge, Link saw Zelda atop her horse on the other side of the bridge, her Sheikah bow in hand, ready with a second arrow.

Link grinned towards her, as she began to sheath the bow and arrow, bringing her horse into a gentle trot towards him, "You weren't kidding," he began, "When you said you were proficient in the bow and arrow. That was a perfect shot."

Zelda shrugged, feigning humility, "It was okay, I'm a little rusty after one hundred years."

"Remind me to never get into an argument with you."

"Yes, that's just asking for trouble, isn't it?"

The two resumed their trek, making their way towards the Dueling Peaks stable. Once there, Link dismounted briefly, upon seeing a man seated under a tree who had a pack on his back that was somehow bigger than theirs. He was a frail, lanky man, and Zelda noticed that the pack seemed to be an incredible burden on his back, but he smiled as though it was nothing, and when Link made his way into his line of vision, his smile brightened up, and he quickly pulled a string from his pack, dropping a makeshift bartering table in front of him!

"Hey! Link! My favorite customer!" The man greeted.

"Hi, Beedle," Link greeted, "I'm afraid I don't have much time to stay and chat, we're on a tight schedule," he said, gesturing a shoulder in Zelda's direction. She kept the hood around her head still, careful of any onlookers with malicious intent.

Link continued, "Do you have anything interesting in your inventory today?"

"Oh, do I ever!" Beedle gushed, taking out his inventory from his pack, "I have a supply of arrows, I keep a steady inventory of those now, since you always run me dry of those every time I see you, and I've also got a vast assortment of bugs and beetles and lizards, at your disposal!"

"Do you have any bugs that will help combat the cold?"

"Of course I do!" Beedle prattled, "I've got some Warm Darners and some Summerwing Butterflies! They both have warming properties when mixed into elixirs."

"I'll take them all."

Beedle's mouth dropped, "Wow!" He said, "Can I interest you in anything else? I also have some incredibly rare Hearty Lizards, that when made into an elixir will restore your strength and even wounds in battle."

"And I'll take those too."

"Wow!"

"Also every last arrow you have."

"You got it, boss!"

They left as quickly as they came, Link taking the small parcels with the insects inside and placing them inside his pack, whist refilling his and Zelda's quivers.

As he mounted his horse and they headed out, Zelda said, "It sounded like you knew him very well."

Link grinned, "Yeah, that's Beedle. He's a traveling merchant. If there's a place in Hyrule that I haven't been to yet, Beedle has probably been there. He has been all across Hyrule, to every major town and village. He's a collector of sort, and is really fascinated by bugs."

"Hence his name."

"Precisely," Link paused, "I'm not sure if Beedle is his real name or a nickname, but either way, he loves them. I grabbed some bugs that I can heat up into a mixture to keep us warm, if we need them. I'd rather be safe than sorry."

Zelda wrinkled her nose at that, "And I would imagine that to create those you would use…?"

"Monster parts and Bokoblin guts," Link supplied, patting his pack, "I've got a good arsenal of them myself, for this very purpose. I feel like creating elixirs out of monster pieces would have been right up your alley, Zelda."

"Well," Zelda stammered, "Watching the scientific effects of each ingredient while the elixir was being prepared would be _quite_ fascinating, and seeing how potent I could make each effect would be something I would find quite fun and satisfying, however, I don't think I would like to _consume_ any elixirs with bug pieces and monster bits. What if there are adverse effects, or any hidden side effects?"

"There won't be."

"Well how do you know?"

Link _winked_ at her, and she nearly forgot to breathe, "I'll have you know _princess, _that I am quite the alchemist."

And in that moment, Link had somehow managed to make her hot and bothered with _science._

With that, Zelda went silent and tried to distract herself with the cliffs of the Dueling Peaks, noticing that near the top, there seemed to be a large chunk of the mountain missing. Link noticed this too, and spurred his horse ahead slightly. Over the top of the hill, they could see that the ravine had been hit with a landslide, the rocks from the top of the mountain being dislodged and falling, creating a chain reaction. Link instantly figured out why this was: The Dueling Peaks were home to _three_ shrines, and he could guess that when the shrines and towers all sank back into the ground, the shrines here dislodged the already precarious rock and soil and caused the rocks to tumble. The way was still clear, albeit, it was a bit of a maze, and Link and Zelda had to maneuver their horses through the rocks and soil. Link was careful to keep his eyes and ears open for any more rocks falling. It had only been two days since the towers and the shrines sunk into the ground, and there could still be some aftershocks from the event.

Zelda looked at him, a peculiar look in her eyes, "Link, back there, at the Kakariko Bridge… that was a member of the Yiga Clan, wasn't it?"

Link nodded.

"I knew it was," Zelda continued, "I just had to ask to be perfectly sure. I would have hoped that after all this time, the Yiga would have disbanded."

"No," Link said, a hard look in his eyes, "The Yiga Clan is still around. I even killed their leader, and they are still as strong as ever," he said, a hard look in his eyes, "I'd imagine they're even more unified now, with the return of the blood moon. That Yiga member, she knew what it signified, she knew what it meant."

"So you think they're stronger now than they have been before?"

Link nodded once, "I think so. I hope we're wrong, but the fact that we were confronted with one just hours after leaving Kakariko Village is telling. We need to be on our guard."

When they arrived on the opposite side of the Dueling Peaks, Link would have been relieved, if it were not for the red Bokoblin camp straight in front of them, with a silver Bokoblin as its leader, no less.

Link sighed, pausing both his and Zelda's horses. He looked at her, an impish look in his eyes, "You think you can snipe the red Bokoblins while I sneak up on the silver one?"

Zelda smirked, grabbing her Sheikah Bow from her back; "I could do it in my sleep."

It was like clockwork. Zelda and Link snuck up on the camp, and took out the red Bokoblins one by one. It was almost comical, watching them look around confused as one after another kept falling to their arrows. Once it was just down to the very confused and very angry silver Bokoblin, Zelda let loose a fire arrow at it as Link charged in with the Master Sword.

They made a very efficient team, it seemed.

And the Bokoblins were roasting a whole bird for lunch, so the two thought not to waste it.

The two carried on after that, making their way towards the Proxim Bridge. It would seem that the blood moon had spared no expense when it came to reviving the monsters that laid plague to the land. Link and Zelda took quick work of them, falling into an efficient sort of routine, where words were not needed, and upon the first sighting of a Bokoblin, they had already silently slid off of their horses, sneaking stealthily towards the camps.

The path brought back a sense of Déjà vu to Zelda. It seemed they were taking the exact same path as they had taken when they first defeated the Calamity those weeks ago and had made their initial way towards Kakariko Village. Looking towards her knight, she remembered being so unsure about whether he truly remembered her, and if she was going to have anyone by her side in this new Hyrule. Things had a way of working out, though, and even though the man next to her wasn't the same man from one hundred years ago, she found that in some ways, he still was.

And no matter what, memories or not, she was grateful to have him by her side in this new world.

She took a look towards Hyrule Castle and noticed, much like Impa had said, that the columns surrounding the castle had been lowered back into the ground, and that the malice that had been swirling around the castle had completely dissipated. If she pretended, she could very nearly believe that she was just on an extended excursion with her knight, and she would be back at the castle by nightfall.

Of course, the ruins surrounding her didn't help to create that illusion.

They made their way towards the Great Plateau, taking a turn towards the north at the Gatepost Town ruins. Various Moblins lurked amongst the land, but the pair made quick work of disposing of them. That was the thing with Moblins: they were large is size, but relatively easy to kill.

By dusk, they had made their way to the Riverside Stable, exhausted yet satisfied from the trip. Despite the circumstances the two were in, they found small joys in traveling and defeating the Bokoblins and Moblins on the road. Zelda went outside to pick some mushrooms for dinner while Link went to the proprietor of the stable to inquire about a bed and stabling the horses for the night. While Zelda was outside, there was a man by the cooking pot, gently cooking something with a delectable aroma coming from it. It reminded Zelda of home.

Not of Link's Hateno home, which she would consider to be her home now, but of _the castle._

"Excuse me," she sat down on a seat next to him, as he was cooking, "What is it that you're making?"

The man smiled, "It's one of the finest recipes I have ever come across. A while back, a beautiful young man who looked to be an adventurer came across this very stable, and I told him about all of the recipes that were sure to be locked away in Hyrule Castle, with no one enjoying them for the past one hundred years. You see, my grandfather's grandfather was a chef in Hyrule Castle, and-"

"What was your grandfather's name?" Zelda asked, interrupting him. Perhaps she knew the chef personally.

"How should I know?" The man replied, "It was over one hundred years ago when he died, and most records burned during the Age of Burning Fields, if they weren't destroyed in the initial onset of the Great Calamity."

Zelda swallowed, "I apologize, I had no idea."

The man laughed, "Oh, take no offense to it, the true offense is all of the recipes and cookbooks still stuck in Hyrule Castle! Since I was a child, I had always dreamed of all of the wonderful things that would have been made in the castle. I told this adventurer that if he ever came across a cookbook in the castle, to share the recipes with me. Well, this beautiful man with such a symmetrical face, he went above and beyond, and not only got me one of the recipes of the Princess' favorite dish, but also made it for me."

Zelda paused, a look of surprise in her eyes, "It couldn't possibly be…"

"He made me a fruitcake, the recipe being the Princess' favorite dish, which is what I'm cooking now!" He paused, looking at the cooking pot, "It's nearly done, and a good meal is better tasting with good company, would you like some?"

The man wouldn't know exactly why she had tears in her eyes, but she smiled and nodded, allowing her small bag of mushrooms to fall at her side.

When she took the first bite, memories of birthdays and celebrations consumed her, memories of sneaking into the castle kitchens as a child and all but threatening the castle chefs to make her a fruitcake even though the king and queen had specifically decreed that she was not to have more sweets. It also brought sad memories, memories of trying and trying and failing to unlock her sealing powers, only to give up and have a slice of fruitcake with tea, to try and clear her mind. She would then focus her energies on the Sheikah Slate, redirecting her mind, trying not to think of how those powers would never bless her.

When she looked up, the man was nodding, in understanding, "I had that reaction the first time I tried the castle fruitcake as well. There truly is nothing like it. It brought me to tears as well," he paused, looking off towards the stable, "Well what do you know, it's the beautiful Hylian that brought me this recipe! Hello!"

Zelda looked up, and Link was there, looking between the two of them, seeing the tears running down Zelda's face, the fruitcake in her hands, Gotter to her left, and instantly understanding.

Link smiled, a charming look on his face, "Hey Gotter, long time no see. Happen to have enough for one more?"

Gotter smiled, "Of course I do. Anything for the man who gifted me with this recipe!"

Link sat down next to Zelda on her right, helping himself to a slice. Gotter, across from them, rattled on and on about different stories of his grandfather's grandfather in the castle, cooking for banquets and extravagant meals that he could only dream of. Throughout this, he continually referred to Link as 'beautiful', but he seemed to refer to many things as beautiful. At one point, Zelda had leaned her head on Link's shoulder, as she listened to the stories Gotter told. Link leaned down and pressed his lips to her forehead, wrapping an arm around her waist.

Gotter, naturally, took notice of this, "Oh, I should have guessed that two beautiful people such as yourselves would be together. In times such as these, with blood moons hanging ominously over our heads, it's good to keep each other close, and beautiful things closer."

Zelda and Link both visibly tensed at the mention of the blood moon. They had both let themselves go into a state of bliss, forgetting about the impending doom on the land. Link sighed, standing up, placing a hand out for Zelda, "I think we should be getting to bed. We'll be needing to leave early tomorrow."

Zelda nodded and took his hand, standing up, and turning towards Gotter, "Thank you for your kindness and hospitality. The fruitcake was delicious, by far the best I have had my entire life. You have my gratitude."

Gotter smiled, but then as he looked at her, his eyes squinted, calculating, "You know, she died a hundred years ago, I know, but you look awfully like the Princess of Hyrule herself; you know, this was her favorite dish," he paused, studying her more closely, "But you couldn't possibly be her; your hair's all wrong."

Zelda laughed nervously, Link pulling her towards the stable, calling out behind him, "Yeah, totally, that's just crazy talk, well _good night, Gotter!"_

She knew why it was better to keep her identity a secret, especially with Ganon still lurking and the Yiga Clan still stalking. Still, she couldn't help but laugh as she went inside the stable, with Link following close behind her.

"I swear, you would have picked out this stable on purpose," Zelda laughed, turning towards Link, "Knowing that he was there cooking my favorite food!"

"I swear," Link laughed, wrapping his arms around her, "I completely forgot he was here. Dorian and I had originally planned a different route, but it was less safe than this one. It was all just happenstance."

"I still don't know if I believe you, you are a master of planning surprises," Zelda said, a glow on her face, "But regardless, thank you for that, whether it was intentional or not."

"I live to serve, princess."

He kissed her then, softly at first, before she ran her hands through his hair and pulled him in deeper, pulling him closer. He placed his hand on her back, sighing into the kiss, his hands inching lower and lower until –

"Hey," the proprietor, Ember, protested, "I'd say to get a room, but we don't have any!"

Zelda and Link looked at each other, slightly embarrassed but mostly amused, trying to suppress their giggles, "Sorry!" Zelda called over Link's shoulder, towards the proprietor.

Ember sighed, "Ah, to be young and in love. Love is so hard to find nowadays, so I can't fault you two for that, just don't 'do it' in my stable! No funny business tonight!"

The two of them reddened in the face, scurrying over to their bed, ducking under the covers, "Sorry, again!" Link called out, pulling the curtains around their bed.

They nestled themselves under the covers, giggling to themselves, but also careful not to accidentally touch each other in inappropriate places, in case the proprietor could see through the curtain. They breathed in the cool, Central Hyrule air, and sighed, drifting off soon after.


	9. Chapter 9

Malice

By: dontwaitupxx

* * *

Chapter Nine

* * *

They left early the next morning, coats pressed close to their bodies as they departed from the stables. It was raining; cold and bitter, and the wind brought a chill with it that penetrated through their cloaks. They had nearly debated staying back at the stables to wait out the rain, but they knew they couldn't spare any more time than necessary, so Link put together warming elixirs from the bug ingredients he had gotten from Beedle, pressed one firmly in Zelda's hands, and headed towards the horses, saddling them for a swift departure.

They were heading through Central Hyrule, through the Hyrule Fields, and Link was on his guard, Master Sword in hand, lest any of the Guardians be revived from Ganon's blood moon. It seemed, however, as they travelled more and more towards the northwest, that all of the Guardians were inactive. It would seem that with the shrines and towers as well as the massive pillars surrounding Hyrule Castle sinking back down into the ground, as well as the Divine Beasts all shutting down and going dormant, that the Guardians followed suit and were inactive as well. That was one less thing that the two of them had to worry about.

They were making their way up the road on horseback slowly, making their way past the Mabe Prairie towards the Sacred Grounds. Ahead of them, the outline of Hyrule Castle loomed closer and closer, its towers and walls becoming more clearly distressed, in the aftermath of Calamity Ganon. The rain didn't help, creating a veil that Zelda squinted her eyes through. The clouds were dark and menacing over Hyrule Castle, and if Zelda didn't know better, it nearly looked as though the castle were still under siege by the Calamity, as she looked through a black and white veil. She looked towards the gaping holes in the walls surrounding the castle town, and saw outlines of buildings and roads and not much else as they trekked closer towards the Sacred Ground ruins.

Despite Impa and Link's wishes, she knew that she would need to begin work on repairing and restoring Hyrule Castle and Hyrule Castle Town, once all of this was over. She supposed that the best form of recovery is moving on and rebuilding, so she thought optimistically. This threat from Ganon still could be over before anything destructive could happen. They would head to the Forgotten Temple, figure out the secret passage into the ancient Zonai city underneath Hyrule Castle, discover and destroy whatever threat loomed down there, and be back with hardly a scratch. Once the situation was properly dealt with, she would properly deal with Central Hyrule. Then, her and her knight could properly have some peace.

…and yet, that was another situation entirely.

She had noticed, since the defeat of Calamity Ganon, that Link had moments where he seemed distant, not himself, and to be honest, angry. It would happen in an instant: one moment, he would seem fine; happy, even, and he would be speaking with her in light tones and everything seemed to be all right. But like a coil snapping, the next moment, he would seem cold and distance, opting not to speak, much like how he had one hundred years prior. Seeing as he hadn't recovered much more of the minimal memory he had prior to the events one hundred years ago, she didn't believe that he was flipping between senses of self, from who he was a century ago and who he was now. She had noticed that he had snapped at her at times, his mood completely pivoting with no warning: from when she had first theorized of Ganon not truly being gone that day by the Great Fairy Fountain, to following the events of the shrines and towers collapsing back into the ground. She assumed it was a sort of coping mechanism, after everything he had been through. Perhaps it was a way for him to be able to stay strong and not break down.

Everyone had always asked how Zelda was faring following the defeat of Calamity Ganon. No one had bothered to check in on the hero to see how he was doing.

Which brought her back to that cold rainy day, riding horseback through the Hyrule Fields. Link had barely said a word that morning, which was not normal for him post calamity. One hundred years prior, she wouldn't have batted an eye, wouldn't have given it a second thought, because he had always been like that: he had always been the stoic knight, keeping his burdens to himself. Though she had gotten him to open up to her more and more as they approached that fateful day, it was bits and pieces here and there, and he would always revert back to keeping to himself, as to not press his burdens on anyone else.

"Link," she tried, reaching out across their horses to place a hand on his soaked cloak. He tensed at this, his hair matted to his face, staring straight ahead at the western wall of Hyrule Castle Town.

"Are you okay? Do you need to stop for shelter?" Link asked, not taking his eyes off of the road in front of him. They were directly in front of Hyrule Castle Town now, with the Sacred Ground ruins to their left and the Castle Town gate to their right.

"No, I'm fine," Zelda shifted uncomfortably on her horse, looking at him through the rain, "But I need to ask, are you okay? You have barely said a word this morning, and it's not like you."

Link was silent for a long moment, and Zelda thought for a moment that he was simply just not going to answer her. The only sounds she heard was the gentle pattering of the rain around them, as well as the squelching of the mud in the roads beneath the horse's hooves.

He seemed to realize that she expected an answer, feeling her eyes never leaving his face, and so he responded, "I'm fine, princess, there's no reason to worry about me."

He had reverted back to calling her 'princess' again, and not simply in an endearing way, as he had the night before.

"Link," Zelda said, ignoring the honorific, "I'm going to worry about you no matter what, I hope I've made that very clear. You've been swinging back and worth between being completely fine to angry and distant, and yes, we have been going through a lot and had a lot thrown at us, and…" Zelda paused, "I'm just trying to say, if you need someone to talk to through all of this, I'm here to listen, just as you have been to me."

Through this, Link had clenched his eyes shut, closing himself off. He was silent for much after that, the reins to his horse held tightly between white knuckled hands. Zelda was content to leave it at that, until Link spoke up once more.

"I'm sorry, princess; I'll do better to keep my emotions in check."

"Link, this is what I'm talking about," Zelda said, exasperated, "You shouldn't have to keep your emotions in check. All that will do is bottle them up inside of you until you can't take it anymore and it's all let out. It's not healthy," At this, Link sped up his horse slightly, setting a distance between himself and Zelda, "And Link," she sped up her horse to match his pace, "If I've said it a thousand times, I'll say it a thousand times more: I have a name, and I would appreciate you using it."

"Zelda, please, just _stop."_

All was silent around them, save for the muted sounds of the rain cascading around them. They were side by side next to each other on their horses, both halted on the road, and Link was staring hard down towards the mane of his horse.

He couldn't look at her, "I'm sorry," he whispered, "but you know exactly why I'm feeling this way. I'm just – I'm having trouble dealing with the fact that after all we've done, it wasn't enough. The phrase keeps ringing in my ears: 'the power to oppose Ganon lies dormant beneath the ground'. We were so blinded by the Sheikah technology that we couldn't see the truth." Link sighed, tilting his head back up towards the rain, sighing, "Can we talk about this later? When we are not in the pouring rain?"

Zelda nodded, "We'll make our way to the next stable."

They made their way past Hyrule Castle, across the Regencia River towards the Breach of Demise. It wasn't until they were riding parallel to the North Hyrule Plain that the rain began to die down until it finally stopped. It was still cloudy all over, casting the land in an ominous light grey. Zelda pulled her hood from her head, shaking out her hair from its cloak. The back of the hood was completely drenched, and the hair beneath it was damp. The elixir that Link had prepared for her that morning was beginning to wear off, but in the silence between them, Zelda chose to stay quiet, gritting her teeth against the cold and holding her body still through the shivers. The stable was along this road, and they would be there shortly.

Zelda looked off to the right, marveling in the splendor of Hyrule Castle from its western angle. She was brought back to summers spent along this very hill, summers spent researching and cataloging different plants and animal species, and bringing over her results to Robbie and Purah over at the –

It was around here somewhere…

She saw it then, off in the distance to the right of her favorite tree, which still stood despite the years and destruction. She would have missed it, had it not been for the overgrown stone road that was still visible between the plants that had grown in its place, and the very faint stone outline of what had once been the Royal Ancient Lab, all completely obliterated, save for a lone archway of what she remembered led to her garden of sorts.

That garden of sorts was adjacent to a majestic building, a place for research and scholarly work. The sun was shining; it was one of the hottest summers Hyrule had ever witnessed in recorded history. Dr. Purah, who said she had something she wanted to give her, had called Zelda to the lab. Upon discovering the Ancient Sheikah technology, which had been dormant beneath the ground, Purah had found that Princess Zelda lit up when she came in contact with the technology, and was wildly fascinated by it. The Princess, as of late, had been under immense pressure from the king to unlock her Goddess given sealing powers, and so Purah took it upon herself to whisk the Princess away from the castle at any chance she got, to 'assist' with her research. Truly, it was a way to give the Princess a break in disguise.

They had just discovered the Divine Beasts a year prior, and Zelda had just finished her trek across Hyrule to find warriors, or Champions, suitable to pilot them. She still had no idea how piloting them would be possible, and she was itching for any information on how they worked and just what made them tick. They had also recently discovered a sort of automation, called a Guardian, which was a type of autonomous weapon.

Tomorrow was the day of the Champion's Ceremony in the Sanctum of Hyrule Castle. The Champions: Daruk of the Goron, Mipha of the Zora, Urbosa of the Gerudo, and Revali of the Rito, would be officially named Champions of their Divine Beasts, and the Hylian who wielded the sword that seals the darkness would be named the Hylian Champion, and her personal knight.

Thus, today was her last day of freedom.

When she had arrived via horseback, two soldiers in tow, she had made her way inside, with the explicit instructions for the two of them to stay outside. They followed that instruction to the letter.

Inside, Purah was waiting by an odd looking stone, which glowed orange. A strange looking rock glowed blue above it as well. When Purah saw Zelda, she all but dragged her over to the stone, already in a deep monologue.

"Princess!" Purah exclaimed, "I have just discovered something monumental to understanding the Ancient Sheikah technology! I was waiting for you to arrive before I did anything else! Behold: the Guidance Stone!"

"It's fascinating," Zelda breathed, "What does it do?"

"Well, rather than tell you what it does, how about you take this, and place it on the stone?"

Purah was holding up a brown rectangular sort of slate, with an Ancient Sheikah symbol on the back of it. Zelda took it, and it was lighter than she expected, with a small handle on the side.

She looked at it strangely, "Purah, what is this?"

"We call it a Sheikah Slate. Though we are not one hundred percent sure what its full functionality consists of, we believe that the Sheikah Slate works in conjunction with the Divine Beasts, and can run diagnostics on them. However, I have done immense research on it, and I theorize that this Guidance Stone here can unlock other uses for it, and so I invited you here to make this discovery with me!" Purah said, her hands on her hips, her stance wide, standing proud, "Now Zelda, if you please, go place the slate on the stone."

Zelda took the slate in both hands and walked over to where the Guidance Stone was sitting. She noticed as she got close that the stone emitted a soft hum of sorts, and she was instantly intrigued. She thought that perhaps, were she anyone else, she would be nervous going up to the Guidance Stone, but her primary emotion was excitement, and without hesitation, she took the slate and pressed it into the indentation in the stone.

It happened in a flash before her eyes: the slate turned one hundred and eighty degrees on the stone, and then the stone itself moved ninety degrees to the left, the entire stone locking into place as though it were a piece of a puzzle. The slate, then, glowed _orange,_ with a soft chime emitting from it. She saw the words 'Sheikah Slate Authenticated' come across the front of the slate in a bright blue light, then 'Camera rune, downloading'.

From above her, the strange blue rock glowed an even more vivid blue, and she saw Ancient Sheikah texts dripping down the sides of the rock, cumulating into a sort of condensation at the bottom of the Sheikah eye. It was forming a bright blue drop of liquid, growing and growing in size until the drop became to heavy and splashed down on top of the Sheikah Slate, its magic cascading around the Guidance Stone and Zelda. She looked closely into the screen of the Sheikah Slate, which had lit up in a soft blue glowing light. There were six squares across the screen, with a green symbol appearing in the rightmost square. She read it said 'Camera Rune' and 'Instantly render a visible image into a picture'.

"This is simply fascinating," Zelda whispered again, "It says 'Camera Rune, Instantly render a visible image into a picture.' What does that mean?"

Purah was grinning from ear to ear, "It means exactly what I thought it would! I had researched this particular Guidance Stone, and this one had the ability to 'download' a specific 'rune' onto a blank Sheikah Slate. This 'Slate' is the monumental piece of Ancient Sheikah technology we had discovered! It has the ability to learn different commands and ideas from these Guidance Stones! The one it just downloaded is the 'Camera Rune', which if my hypothesis is correct, has the ability to take real to life portraits instantly."

"Real to life portraits?" Zelda mused, "How does it work?"

"Check it out!" Purah all but snatched the Sheikah Slate out of Zelda's hands and held it out in front of her, pressing on the screen as though the Slate understood commands from her fingertips, "Okay, Princess, look straight at the Sheikah eye on the back of the slate and smile!"

"Wait, what?" Zelda heard a 'snap' in her confusion, followed by a squeal of joy from Purah in front of her. She was all but jumping up and down, pointing excitedly to the screen, "Princess, _it worked! Look!"_

She showed her the screen on the Sheikah Slate, and Zelda gasped. On it, exactly as Purah had described, was a true to life portrait of her, albeit with a confused look on her face. The detail was impeccable; it was almost like looking into a mirror. Even the coloring was right, from the color of her blonde hair to the blue of her tunic, to the deep greens of her eyes. It was startling how accurate the slate was.

"Now," Purah began, "The Camera Rune's companion is the Hyrule Compendium, which is downloaded from this other Guidance Stone in the back," Purah pointed towards the back of the lab, and sure enough, another stone sat in wait, "However, that one is Robbie's pet project, and he hasn't exactly figured out how to make it work, but based on our research, the compendium has a way of organizing pictures of items taken on the Camera Rune and automatically labeling them. However, we are not sure if it works for all items. But once we figure it out, we will have you come back and download that as well!"

"This is all so amazing, thank you so much for allowing me to make these discoveries with you!" Zelda said, handing the slate back to Purah.

"What are you doing?" Purah asked, staring at the slate outstretched in front of her.

Zelda was confused, "Giving you back the Sheikah Slate?"

"Well, Princess," Purah began, "I have much research that I need to be doing on the Divine Beasts, on the Guardians, on these shrines that have popped up out of nowhere, I need someone to do practical experiments with the slate," she reached out towards Zelda's hands, and folded her fingertips around the slate, "I would be honored if the Princess of Hyrule would test the practicality of the slate, and report back with any findings about it!"

A piece of Ancient Sheikah Technology, that was _hers_ to pilot. She could perhaps make a discovery about the slate that could help them further understand the Divine Beasts and the guardians with the threat of Calamity Ganon looming. Perhaps then, she would make her father proud.

She nodded twice, grinning, "I would love that. Purah, thank you!"

She ran outside through the back, under the archway from the gardens towards the tree at the top of the hill, where she could perhaps find wildlife and fauna she could 'snap' a picture of.

Outside, it was raining: cold and bitter, and her hair was now drenched from the rain, her hood having been pulled down off her head in a window in the weather. She found herself on top of her horse on the main road parallel to the North Hyrule Plain, staring down at all that remained of the Royal Ancient Lab, which was hardly anything at all. There was something insistent in the wind, billowing against her ears, a constant presence. It became louder and louder until:

"_Zelda."_

Zelda snapped her head towards the voice, which was right beside her now, on top of his horse. He had a strange look in his eyes, as he reached out with one hand towards her cheek. She found that his hand was _hot_, nearly burning against her cheek. His hand flew back, as though her cheek had branded him somehow.

"Zelda, you're frozen to the touch," Link muttered, "Your elixir did not last nearly as long as it should have. Come on, we're almost to the stable, we'll warm you up there."

Link gently grabbed hold of Zelda's reins as well as his, and brought both of their horses into a brisk trot, leading them towards the Serenne Stable just down the hill. Once there, he helped Zelda down from her horse, passing off the two horses to a small stable boy, with the promise that he would get them checked in at the front desk.

He took her inside, towards a small corner of the room with a curtain covering it and all but shoved her inside. He then tossed a pair of down-lined riding pants and one of her Hateno sweaters under the curtain, as well as a fresh pair of socks and her bag of personals. She quickly changed, finding that her skin was red underneath her clothes from the cold. She had to estimate it was almost cold enough to snow, with how close they were to winter, not to mention how close they were to the Tabantha Highlands. They would need to dress much warmer from now on.

When she emerged from the corner, she found that their belongings were strewn across a soft bed in the far corner of the room, the closest to where a fireplace was. Link was knelt in front of the fireplace, stoking it. Zelda took her wet clothes and hung them up along a rail on the footboard of the bed. Link looked up at her then, nodded, and then went to go change his clothes.

Zelda sat down in front of the fireplace and sighed. The fire was almost too warm, sending a near burning sensation across her skin, but she couldn't be bothered to move. From the Serenne Stable, they were not even a few hundred meters away from the great canyon, which housed the Forgotten Temple. They would trek inside the next morning, and the sense of anticipation was thick in the air. She wasn't sure what exactly they would find down there; if anything at all. But it was their best guess, and they had to do something.

Link came back then, wearing his brown pants and green tunic that he got in Hateno Village, and sat down beside her in front of the fire, placing his hands out in front of them. They were silent for a long while, with naught but the flickering flames cackling in the air.

He spoke up then, his voice soft, not carrying throughout the stable, "It's tough being the hero sometimes."

He let out a small laugh, leaning back on one hand, sighing, "I'm trying to get a hold of my emotions, but… it's not easy. It's a lot of factors: sometimes, I get suddenly angry because I look at something, and it's so familiar, but I just can't put my finger on how I remember it. I know it's irrational, and I know there's no reason for it, but I just can't help it. Moreover, I'm not doing so well with this whole Ganon situation. And… I just –" His voice broke then, and she had _never_ heard it break like that, "I can't shake the feeling that I'm not going to survive this."

"What do you mean?" Zelda asked, placing a hand on his arm, "Link, I don't understand."

"Call it a 'gut instinct'" Link said, the corners of his lips twitching slightly, "We're damn lucky to be here, alive, in this moment. I've died once already, and I don't think I'll be able to come back a second time."

"Link, you're not going to die, you're going to be just fine –"

"We don't know that!" Link snapped, and a moment later, his eyes widened, and he took a deep breath, gently holding one of Zelda's hands, "We don't have anything on our side. The Champions are all dead, the Divine Beasts are all dormant, the Sheikah Slate powered down… all I have to defeat whatever we are going to find is this sword, and the last time it was just me and the sword, it wasn't enough."

"Well," Zelda started, stroking Link's knuckles in her hand, "I'm here to tell you, that right now, it's going to have to be enough. I'm scared too, and angry with all of this. You're allowed to be angry, and you're allowed to be scared. I'd bet to wager that one of the great Heroes has been scared once or twice." She smiled, then, "And once this is all over, we can get back to our normal. We haven't had much choice in our destinies up to this point, but once this is all properly dealt with, we'll be able to gain back control of our lives."

"Now," Zelda said, standing up and holding out her hand towards Link, "I asked this in Hateno and I'll ask this again: are you with me?"

"Always," Link breathed, taking her hand in his.

They fell asleep in each other's arms that night, fighting off the biting cold and chill the night Hyrulian air brought. As Zelda was drifting off to sleep, she heard a light conversation being had by patrons of the stable, coming from the other side of the room. Their conversation was soft, but the words were sharp, and Zelda caught brief snippets of their conversation. Their conversation, however, was not in light jest.

It was a shrill woman's voice that Zelda caught onto first, "Did you see the blood moon the other night? Do you know what this means?"

"Besides the return of monsters?"

"Well, this blood moon signifies _Ganon's _power has returned."

"Well, I saw the castle just the other day, there were no Guardians or Malice swirling about anywhere! How could Ganon be back?"

"We've been fooled into a state of false security! The Calamity was never vanquished, and if he was never vanquished, then what in Hylia's name was that _princess_ doing?"

"She was keeping Ganon at bay!"

"And yet she_ failed!_ They say that the princess and the hero walked from Hyrule Castle after defeating him, but he was never defeated in the first place! The Princess really was an heir to a throne of nothing! Nothing but failure, and because of her actions, we are all going to be doomed."

She felt Link's arms tighten around her waist slightly, his face burying into her hair, "Don't listen to them," he murmured, "They have no idea."

Zelda breathed in the cool, Tabantha air, and sighed, nodding, doing her best to drown out the voices. However, she couldn't help but find truth to their words.

She really was just a failure.


	10. Chapter 10

Malice

By: dontwaitupxx

* * *

Chapter Ten

* * *

The morning was covered in a thick, ominous fog, stretching from the bottom of the Tanagar Canyon to the tops of the Hebra Mountains. The pair could hardly see more than a few feet in front of them, which required their trek to be all the more cautious as they carefully made their way down into the canyon to the Forgotten Temple.

They stabled their horses indefinitely at the Serenne Stable, not knowing exactly how long they would be gone for. The proprietor protested, at first, but upon receiving a shiny gold rupee and a near dangerous look from Link, he pocketed the rupee with the promise that their horses would be well taken care of and would be there upon their return, however long that may be.

Prior to leaving, Link obtained a small wood axe and chopped down a nearby tree, gathering whatever firewood he could carry. Between the two of them, they didn't have the capacity to carry much, so whatever they could carry on their backs was what they would be able to bring with them. They had rations, firewood, their weapons, their sleeping mats, and a supply of water. Not much else could be brought with them.

They travelled on foot on the Rowan Plain, walking alongside the Tanagar Canyon towards the entrance of the Forgotten Temple. Link kept a lookout on the side of the canyon for a way to easily climb down, but the walls of the canyon were steep and treacherous, and covered in a thick fog, and Link realized quickly they were going to have to find another way down.

The plain was home to a pack of wolves, and so prior to their descent, Link and Zelda made quick work of the wolves with their arrows, preserving and packing the meat away for their journey. Link noticed in awe that Zelda's aim with the bow was impeccable, her arrows flying fast and true, never missing their mark.

"And you said you were rusty after one hundred years," Link smirked, sheathing his bow.

"I am," Zelda replied, "I used to be much more accurate."

Overlooking the Tanagar Canyon, Zelda saw it through the fog as she peered down: a stone structure, deep within the canyon, lost to the wilds and time. She was almost positive that the temple came first, the canyon seemingly widening over time and swallowing the temple into its depths. It was a wonder that this temple had been lost to all but the Sheikah; it was truly a wonder in its own right. Though time had not been kind to it, it still stood tall and proud within the canyon, its crumbling ancient architecture having stood the test of time. The walls of the canyon around it were precarious and steep, a warning to its explorers that one wrong step would lead to their certain demise. Zelda quickly realized that there wouldn't be an easy way down, and one glance towards her knight confirmed that he had the same suspicions.

Link sighed, "Just as I thought."

"There's no way to climb down safely, is there?"

Link nodded, breathing in the cool, Tabantha air, and sighed, "This is what I feared. I had only been down in the Forgotten Temple once, and I couldn't remember if there had been a way to climb down. I had just used the paraglider to glide down into the mouth of the temple," He scratched his head, "When I was looking at the map with Dorian, there was a less steep way into the canyon down to the southwest, by Lake Illumeni, but we would have been traveling through the canyon for days, at best. We took a leap of faith and settled on this route, leading us above the mouth of the temple, hoping there would be a path down."

Zelda pursed her lips, thinking; "You said before that you had used your paraglider to glide your way into the temple, correct?"

"Yeah."

"Do you think that your paraglider could support two people?"

"That's out of the question," Link said, a hard look on his face, "That's much too dangerous. The wood on the paraglider could snap, and then we would fall and you would get hurt."

"Link, we already know this is going to be dangerous."

"I'm not about to risk it."

"It's a short glide down, we would be just fine."

"Zelda, I can't risk you getting hurt from that."

"Okay, Link," Zelda snapped, exasperated, "But I have to ask you, do you have a better idea on how to get down into the temple, in an appropriate amount of time? I don't know if you've noticed, but it's been nearly a week since the blood moon, and the phenomenon used to happen every few days here in Hyrule during the Great Calamity. If it follows its patterns like before, it is due literally any day now. We don't have time to try and find a detour. We don't have time to weigh the risks of each decision we make," Zelda looked down into the Canyon, "It's what, one hundred meters down from here? We'll be fine."

Link scoffed, "You act as though one hundred meters is the equivalent of jumping out of a tree."

"With a paraglider, it might as well be!"

"Have you even been on a paraglider before?"

"No, but I know that you're quite adept at it, so I think we'll be just fine!"

Link sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose between his fingers, "I suppose you're right, we don't exactly have much of an option now, do we?"

"Of course I'm right, and no, I don't think we do."

Link looked up from his hand, a small smile threatening to escape from his very serious composure. Gingerly, he adjusted his sword and bow and quiver, moving them to the side, while taking out his paraglider, "Climb on my back. I'm going to need you to hold on tight. One hundred meters is still a long way down."

"Link, we will be _fine."_

"Good, and I'll feel better still once we are landed back on solid ground."

Zelda put both of her arms out and steadied herself on Link's shoulders, before she jumped and climbed on his back, wrapping her legs around his waist. Unsurprisingly, Link didn't even stagger or slightly buckle under her weight. He was solid beneath her, adjusting his gear so the weight was distributed evenly, and then opening up his paraglider. Zelda wrapped her arms around his shoulders, and her face was directly behind his. She felt him take in a deep breath, turning his head towards the direction of the Forgotten Temple. He could see the top of the temple, but the rest was shrouded in the fog, which had yet to dissipate despite the morning sun beginning to shine from the east.

"Are you ready?" Link asked over his shoulder, his nose brushing along Zelda's cheek.

"Yes," Zelda said, "Are you?"

"Not in the slightest."

He grabbed the backs of Zelda's legs, readjusting her on his back, before taking the paraglider in both hands, breaking off into a run and making a leap into the canyon.

For a split second, Zelda felt the beginning of a free fall, her stomach rising into her throat, her arms and legs involuntarily tightening around Link's shoulders and waist. She heard the paraglider's cloth open before she felt it, a strong flap in the breeze, and then the free fall stopped abruptly, the force jostling her so bad she nearly let go. She realized she had clenched her eyes closed, and slowly opened them.

The sight before her was nearly mystical. A thick, yet translucent, fog surrounded her and Link on all sides, its moisture leaving a small sheen of precipitation against her skin. Link was gliding the paraglider straight down into the canyon, not risking any more movement than he had to. Ahead, she saw the outline of the Forgotten Temple, growing more magnificent and spectacular as they floated down in front of it. The temple was overgrown with plant life; bits of moss and vines growing freely as the wild slowly engulfed the temple.

They landed softly in the mouth of the temple, a large circular stone archway stretching above them. Link landed steadily, and Zelda noted dryly to herself that with some of the weapons she knew Link had used while freeing the Divine Beasts, the paraglider was probably accustomed to more weight than her. She kept this thought to herself however, and turned around, facing the interior of the canyon.

The fog was now beginning to dissipate as the sun made its trek skyward bound, and she could see the canyon stretching onward for kilometers. Directly in front of her in the canyon were odd looking pillars, some half sunken into the ground at strange angles, and all eroded away much more than the temple itself, being stationed out at the mercy of the elements.

She turned back around, where she saw Link readjusting his pack onto his back. He unsheathed the Master Sword as a precaution, beckoning her forward.

"That wasn't too bad, was it?" Zelda asked, tightening her hood around her shoulders.

"I would be a very happy man if I never had to do that again." Link replied, and she supposed that was the best reply she could have gotten, considering.

They began their trek into the temple. Zelda noticed the temple had a musty smell, despite natural light coming in through cracks in the walls and the ceiling. Natural ventilation came from the floor of the temple, creating an updraft in front of them, circulating the air. She saw a bridge perpendicular to the platform she was on, running across the top of the temple. Her eyes followed it across, until her eyes landed on something dark and mechanical.

A guardian.

And not just one: she looked down and saw _three_ more guardians along the bottom of the temple. She gasped, and fell backwards, tripping over a broken piece of stone. Looking to her left, she saw that she was close to a guardian; too close, and was well within its range.

Something within her snapped, and she needed to get out of here. She could very nearly feel their lasers honing in on her, beeping and buzzing and scaling and gaining and red with malice, hot and burning, slick and oozing, and even if they missed -

\- but how would they miss the guardians never missed even if they did they would just fire again and again until they didn't miss -

\- they would just hit something around her, and certainly from the collateral damage a stone would fall or a bridge would collapse or _entire towns and villages and cities and countries would be devastated, _and it would be all her fault because she couldn't access her goddess given powers -

\- she needed to get out of here -

\- and so she crawled to her knees and stumbled back the way she came, feeling the hot lasers fresh on her back, but the guardians were gaining on her, they were gaining and crawling towards her, pulsing with red malice, their machinery whirling and their eyes glowing bright blue, their mechanical claws abrupt like a short staccato, puncturing and pursuing and piercing and the princess had nowhere left to run, no where left to go, the sides of the temple were closing in on her, the temple being swallowed by the wild, the vines and trees and moss closing in until this temple would be naught but a distant memory, the_ princess_ of Hyrule naught but a legend and legends would soon be forgotten like the temple that was closing in faster and faster until -

"_Zelda._"

She gasped, taking in a full breath of air. She was backed up against the rubble of the temple, backed into a corner by her own irrational fears that stuck to her being like malice; oozing and burning. She blinked rapidly, noticing tears had been cascading down her cheeks, and her knight was knelt in front of her, a hand on her cheek, wiping the tears away, and a hand on her arm, anchoring her. The guardians behind him were dark, lifeless, having not actually glowing red and blue.

"Are you okay?"

It was all in her head, it seemed. Despite making it past the inactive guardians in Hyrule Field, it would seem that these would trigger her into a panic. Why was that so? Perhaps it was that Link had mentioned he was on the look out for them in Hyrule Field, and so she was prepared to see them. He hadn't mentioned there being any guardians in the Forgotten Temple.

He seemed to read her mind at that, "I'm sorry," he murmured, "I should have thought to tell you, there were guardians stationed here. I should have given you time to brace yourself."

Zelda sighed, still catching her breath, and turned away from Link, facing the sunlight making its way in through the archway of the Forgotten Temple, "No, it's fine," she whispered, "It's irrational of me to think that they are still active. We concluded in Hyrule Field that the automatons were inactive. That response on my part was uncalled for, and I apologize."

"What? Zelda…" Link gripped her arm again, shuffling closer, "I can't speak for what goes on in your head, that's your business, but your reaction to the guardians is based off of an incredibly rational fear of them. We saw the ones in Hyrule Field were inactive, but who was to say that all of them were?" Zelda glanced back anxiously towards the guardians, and Link sighed, "Luckily, these guardians are also inactive. I would place my rupees down on all of them being so."

Zelda laughed, albeit bitter and short, "What's funny to me is that I used to want to study these guardians and take them apart. Now, the sight of them makes me want to run in fear. Isn't that funny?"

"No," Link said immediately, "It's not. There's nothing funny about the trauma that you're experiencing from this. Although the memory is short, I remember you looking over the railing of the bridge from your study to your room in the castle and being so fascinated by the guardians and the Sheikah technology. I would give anything to be able to witness you with that passion again."

"Yeah, well," Zelda stood up on shaky legs, dusting the dirt off of them. Link rose with her immediately, a hand still on her arm, "All of the Sheikah technology is dormant again; there's nothing for me to be able to study." She started walking back towards the temple, and in turn, the guardians.

Link caught up to her, "Are you sure you want to press on so soon? We can stop for a few minutes."

A small smile laced Zelda's lips, "As great as that sounds, I highly doubt that Ganon will wait to unleash his destruction until I'm over my panic attack. We'll move on."

She paused in her step, looking over her shoulder back at her knight, "Besides, it might be better if I face my fears head on. If the guardians are inactive, then rationally, I have nothing to fear."

Zelda marched forward, and Link trailed behind, in a sort of awe. The princess had always been a sort of rationalist; even his sparse memories confirmed that. She had fought the Calamity for one hundred years, and was streaming forward to fight him again. She had her fears, no doubt, but after facing the Calamity, she could face anything.

She was one of the bravest people he knew.

And that wasn't simply because his memory was compromised.

They moved onward. The temple itself was divided into three large rooms, the floor of the first two having long since collapsed back into the ground. They would need to paraglide and use the natural ventilation to make their way across the temple, the archway of the next room being high up off the ground. Link shifted his pack across his pack and made room for Zelda, before they took off again. This time was different; instead of feeling her stomach rise into her throat due to free fall, she felt herself being catapulted up towards the ceiling of the temple. It made her feel nearly giddy, as the ventilation caused their paraglider to rise and fall in the air. Around her, as Link had said, the guardians remained their neutralized grey, neither turning red nor blue.

They landed on the next platform, looking into the second room, and Zelda gasped. In front of her, was the largest Goddess statue she had ever seen, towering over her from the distance, the gaze of the Goddess smiling faintly as she always did, a benevolent smile upon her people.

Zelda felt something tickling the air, almost like an electric current. The air felt alive around her, despite the fact that she could see dust particles floating in the air around her. She realized then that this was a very sacred place. She knew not what the Forgotten Temple, or rather, the Sealed Temple, had been in its prime, but she felt that it was an important place; a place graced by the Goddess, Hylia.

She felt as though she had been here before.

She felt as though she belonged here.

She turned towards the right and gasped, and felt Link stiffen next to her as he followed her gaze. To the right, growing magnificently out of the walls of the temple was a spectacular tree, thriving, despite the lack of sunlight.

"How did I not notice that last time?" Link muttered, his eyes never leaving the tree, "I must have overlooked it, trying not to be shot down by the guardians."

She looked around her then, and noticed the countless more guardians littered across the temple. A thought occurred to her then. Why _were_ there guardians here in the Forgotten Temple, deep within the Tanagar Canyon, seemingly lost to time? She had a couple of theories. Seeing as the Sheikah knew of the whereabouts of the Forgotten Temple, perhaps they had deployed guardians to the temple to guard the secret entrance to the Zonai ruins that led to Hyrule Castle. Alternatively, perhaps once the guardians were under Ganon's influence, they had been deployed over here by him, to guard against a sneak attack into Hyrule Castle.

Either way, they were deployed here to guard the entrance, one way or another.

Zelda looked down, her right hand prickling, and noticed that the Triforce was glowing on her hand, tingling and insistent. Taking a glance at her partner, she noticed that the Triforce was glowing softly on his left hand, as well.

Yes, this was a very sacred place.

They moved onward, paragliding into the next room, landing before the archway into the next room. Both felt the significance of the next few moments; a moment was all it took to change everything.

Zelda noticed to her left a lone guardian on the ground, and in a moment of bravery and courage, began walking towards it. Link followed swiftly behind her. Zelda reached the guardian and stood there for a moment, not quite doing nothing, but just gazing at the guardian, looking at the Ancient Sheikah technology that had once brought her so much joy. As she thought about it, the technology still brought her joy, it would just seem that the joy was covered by the malice and fear staining her heart.

She reached out with one hand, hesitantly at first, and placed her hand on the head of the guardian. She wasn't sure what she expected, but she was almost surprised when the guardian didn't respond. She half expected for it to light up red, whirling and spinning and beeping and buzzing, its eye glowing bright blue, but it didn't. It was dormant, powered down, and without the grid of towers and shrines to keep it powered, it was going to stay dormant.

"I understand now," Zelda murmured, her hand still on top of the guardian, "It's hard to shake the feeling that they are active, and I'm not sure if I will ever be able to look at one without a ping of fear or terror in my gut, but I realize now the guardians themselves had no malicious intent: it was all Ganon. He was the one that took control over them, turning them all against us. However," she paused, a thoughtful look on her face, "Once this is all over, these need to be destroyed, regardless of their inactivity. They serve as a harrowing reminder to our people, and though they never had malicious intent themselves, they still stand to represent all of the chaos and destruction that the Calamity Ganon wrought. Our people deserve not to be reminded of their fear and loss." She paused, "_I_ deserve not to be reminded of my fear and loss."

Link was silent for a moment, a contemplative look on his face, "I agree. And, we can take apart the guardians and use the pieces to help rebuild Hyrule. The pieces can be used to rebuild villages and even Hyrule Castle."

"I do _not _want the castle to be rebuilt using guardian guts."

"What, is that not every ancient Sheikah nerd's dream?"

"Who are you calling an ancient Sheikah nerd?"

"You."

He supposed he deserved the heavy swat across the arm.

"The Divine Beasts, though," Zelda thought out loud, "It would be an atrocity to dismantle the beasts for pieces and parts. If we can confirm that they will stay powered down, I would like them to be created into monuments, as a reminder of what we lost, and to honor the fallen Champions." She looked away, "The Divine Beasts were the Champion's final resting place. It ought to be honored."

They made their way into the final room of the temple, where the most magnificent and the most glorious Goddess Statue stood. It was Impa that stated this statue was the oldest and very first Goddess Statue to ever be created for the Goddess, Hylia. She felt a sense of nostalgia here; a sense of a life lived long ago.

In another lifetime, another hero, another princess, and another paraglider; a sailcloth, namely, were met at that very Goddess statue. But that's another story for another time.

In front of the statue, where an octagonal platform stood raised, was a hole, hollowed out. It was oddly mysterious, and out of place.

"That," Link began, rubbing the back of his neck, "was where the Rona Kachta Shrine was. That hole, I would imagine, is where it had sunk back down into the ground." He stood back, surveying the area, "Impa said that the escape route exit would be here. The question is, where? Even she was unclear as to where it would be."

Around them, the structure of the temple stood, however, it was clear that rocks had caved in and additional rooms, if any, had been blocked off. The entrance to the Zonai city could just as well be blocked off, and without the Sheikah Slate and the magnesis rune, or the endless amount of bombs, they didn't have much in the way to clear the path. There were rocks that had caved in to the left and directly behind the Goddess statue. These ancient Hylian buildings were nearly always symmetrical in design. Had there been an entrance leading underground, Link would have guessed it to be in the center.

_In the center…_

He walked over to where the shrine used to be, to the gaping hole in the center of the room. Carefully, he looked into it, and saw hundreds of meters deep down what looked to be the top of the shrine, dormant beneath the ground. In its absence, though, it had carved a way down, and he saw what looked to be the beginnings of a staircase, leading down into the unknown.

There wasn't a sign that explicitly said 'This way to the Ancient Zonai City,' but he supposed this was the best sign that he was going to get.

"Zelda," he gulped, "I think this is it."

"It is," she said, without hesitation, "I can feel it."

"The stairs don't start until a ways down," Link said, "We will need to paraglide once more to get down there."

He turned towards Zelda, an almost frightened look in his eyes, "Zelda, there's no going back once we do this. We don't know what's going to be down there."

"Link," Zelda grabbed his hand, "This is it. This is what we are destined to do. We have to have faith that the Goddess will guide us on through," She sighed, "Now lets finish what we started."

It would seem that they were not the only ones with the intent to finish what they started.

Link smelled it first, a hint of something sweet, then he realized it, and his instincts went into overdrive.

_Yiga._

He heard it then, the sound of two arrows shot from a Duplex bow. He tackled Zelda to the side, covering her body with his own. Looking back, he saw two arrows sticking out from the ground, where they had been not a second before.

He looked up and saw red; around them, the Yiga were seemingly materializing out of nowhere, Blade Masters and Foot Soldiers alike.

It was an ambush.


	11. Chapter 11

Malice

By: dontwaitupxx

* * *

Chapter Eleven

* * *

Link's Hylian Shield was out in the next second, placed in front of them, as two more arrows flew and ricocheted off of the shield and onto the floor of the Forgotten Temple. Link hastily pulled himself and Zelda up off of the ground and moved her behind him, placing her between himself and the Goddess Statue. Around them, the Yiga were still materializing seemingly out of thin air, coming in closer to the pair, closing in the gap. Link unsheathed the Master Sword and looked around, steely eyes not giving away the panic that was beginning to bubble up in his stomach, as he looked for a way out of this.

Or at least, to get Zelda some place safe.

He looked towards the hole in the center of the room, where the shrine once was and where the entrance to the Zonai city was. He got an idea.

"Zelda," he whispered, glancing around himself frantically, making sure they never had an opening, "I need you to grab my paraglider and make a run for the hole and jump in."

"Not a chance, Link."

"Zelda –"

He glanced behind himself towards Zelda, and realized that she had her Sheikah bow already out with an arrow nocked, aiming at a group of Yiga in front of her.

The Yiga had stopped materializing, but they were taking slow, calculated steps towards the pair, closing the circle between them.

"What do you want?" Zelda's voice rang out clear, strong. She was unflinching in their wake; her arms steady as she held the Sheikah bow taut.

The Yiga around them were silent, however, their advancement on the pair in the temple ceased.

"Speak, Yiga: what do you want?"

She was going to make a terrifying Queen one day.

The Yiga then responded, although it was not what she was expecting. Their voices resonated as one, albeit it could only be heard as a whisper on the wind. The sound however, reverberated off of the walls, the air shaking, a thick vibration and buzzing filling the silence.

"An omen tells of Ganon's growing power," the voice whispered, coming from nowhere and yet all around. It was impossible to tell if the Yiga were all speaking because of their masks, or if this was some greater, more sinister power, "The blood moon: a phenomenon of the last one hundred years, has been a display and demonstration of the Demon King's supremacy. With it's return, brings the promise of Ganon's growing influence. He has told us of his final resting place, and in turn, the place of his resurrection. His work has not yet been completed, and we are to aid him in his revival."

There was silence, for a brief moment, except the growing vibration and buzz emanated from the Yiga, growing and growing until –

\- the buzzing stopped abruptly, the air completely stilling, and then, a final whisper on the wind:

"He shall not be defeated."

Chaos ensued. Around them, various Yiga disappeared in a puff of orange smoke, as others charged on the pair, Demon Carvers and Vicious Sickles catching the light in the air, Windcleavers being braced, and Duplex Bows being stretched. Maniacal laughter filled the temple, along with the sounds of swords clashing from behind her. Zelda let loose her fire arrow that was notched on her bow, letting it fly towards a group of advancing Yiga, making purchase on the middle Yiga with a resolute ping, and its fire spreading to its comrades, setting them ablaze.

She heard the sound of maniacal laughter a second before she saw glowing puffs of smoke materializing in front of her. She knew she had hardly a second to react. She unsheathed her dagger from her blade and held it in one hand, her bow in her other. A Yiga materialized in front of her at the same time a Yiga materialized behind her. With accurate precision and force, she drove the dagger forward, while driving the bow backwards, impaling the one in front and staggering the one behind. With her boot, she kicked the Yiga in front off her, her dagger sliding free, and made a quick one eighty, landing her dagger in the chest of the Yiga behind her, driving it up their chest. She shoved them off and nocked her bow again, her dagger pressed in her front hand against the bow, and shot a series of well executed arrows towards incoming Blade Masters, her arrows landing true, a sharp ping resonating from them.

A few steps away, Link was holding his own against nearly ten Blade Masters and Foot Soldiers, his Master Sword swinging to his right, his Hylian Shield blocking to his left. He found himself falling back on spin attacks, giving him the range to be able to attack multiple Yiga at once. As much as he tried to stay on the offensive, he was clearly outnumbered by the Yiga, and he found himself dodging and rolling out of the way, an arrow or a Vicious Sickle or a Windcleaver crashing down exactly where he had been just seconds prior.

How he wished for Urbosa's Fury in that moment to make quick work of them.

But he didn't; he hadn't felt any of the Champion's powers since the two of them had defeated the Calamity Ganon on the Hyrule Fields. Not that it mattered: he had defeated countless Yiga before, and he would defeat countless more to come.

A quick glance over his shoulder told him that Zelda was holding her ground, faring well, between the Yiga with her bow and dagger. That glance cost him, however, as a sharp, burning pain dug its way into the top of his left thigh. He staggered, looking down, seeing an arrow lodged near the top of his thigh by his hip. He braced himself, and executed another spin attack against the Yiga, increasing their distance from him for the split second he needed. Tucking the Master Sword under his right arm, his shield over his left arm, he grasped the arrow shaft with both hands and yanked it out in a swift tug, dots dancing across his vision from the pain.

He didn't have time to waste though, as the next second, he had his shield parrying two Windcleavers, his Master Sword back in his other hand lodging itself into a Foot Soldier. He tested his weight on his hurt leg, and he was convinced it didn't hurt as bad as it should have because of the adrenaline. He could feel blood seeping down his leg, and he fought against the urge to look down at it.

He parried a crushing blow from overhead with the Master Sword, and found himself in a gridlock with another Blade Master, swords scraping against one another in a battle for dominance. In his peripheral vision, he saw another Blade Master coming in for the kill, and he kicked the Blade Master in front of him, the Windcleaver nicking his arm, as he ducked out of the way in time for the oncoming Blade Master's sword to drive forward, into the other Blade Master.

Link somersaulted out of the way, taking a few steps back as he reassessed the situation. There were now five Yiga surrounding him: two Blade Masters and three Foot Soldiers. Around him lay the bodies of countless Yiga, littering the sacred floor of the Forgotten Temple, their blood seeping into the stone. He supposed his blood too, as he looked down and saw his pant leg completely drenched in red blood. Only then did Link realize the buzzing in his ears, and how lightheaded he felt. Dizziness set in, and he tried to brush it off, but to no avail. He shouldn't have looked down; the adrenaline was wearing off as the severity of the situation set in.

Link panicked, in that moment, when he realized he couldn't see Zelda anywhere.

_Zelda. Where was Zelda?_

He didn't have time to ponder this longer, however, as the two Blade Masters rushed him while the three Foot Soldiers disappeared into a cloud of orange smoke. He parried the first one with his shield, knocking him to the side, and managed to parry the other one with the Master Sword, despite the black dots dancing around his vision. He knew he needed to finish this, and quickly. He saw the telltale signs of the Foot Soldiers rematerializing, one to his left, one to his right, and one right in front of him. He prepared a spin attack to deal with them all, but found that he did not need to.

Three sharp pings echoed throughout the chamber, and Link heard the bodies slump to the ground before he saw them. A distance away from him was Zelda, her Sheikah bow in hand, notching another arrow as Link saw one of the last two Blade Masters get up, preparing his Windcleaver for an over the head blow. Her arrow shot, and landed perfectly center on his face, the Yiga mask cracking, the Blade Master falling. The second and final Yiga Clan member was getting up as well, and he saw his end very similar to his fallen comrade.

Not including the Yiga she had taken down on her own, Zelda had managed to take down these last five Yiga in the course of ten seconds.

She really was the bravest person he knew.

He took a step towards her, but found that the adrenaline had worn off and the exhaustion had eased in, his body collapsing on itself.

Zelda could see his bloody trousers from across the chamber, and was already quickly walking across the temple. As he fell, though, that walk turned into a sprint as she crossed the temple, skidding down beside him.

It nearly brought back a flashback to that fateful day in the Blatchery Plain, hearing him slump to the ground in front of her, but she managed to keep it at bay.

"Link," she gasped, as she saw his arrow wound on his thigh. She helped prop him up on a nearby wall, Link gasping as his wound was jostled, "Link, where's your pack?"

A layer of sweat was forming on Link's brow and lip, his face paling with every second that passed. That worried Zelda.

"Link, you don't think that arrow was poisoned, do you?"

Link barked out a single laugh, albeit strained and coarse, "No," he croaked, moving his pack out from behind his back, towards Zelda, "The arrows weren't poisoned, I'm just losing too much blood."

Zelda's stomach plummeted, taking his pack from Link and scouring through it, searching, "Those Hearty Lizards I bought from Beedle, remember?" Link rasped, pointing vaguely at his pack, "I brewed them into potions a couple of mornings ago, just in case. I didn't think we would need them this quickly, though," he gritted his teeth, clenching his eyes against a fresh wave of pain, "They should be in my pack, it's a red potion. It should help stop the bleeding."

She found them quickly, uncorking it swiftly and passing it along to Link. He took a quick swig of it, grimacing at the taste, and then downed half of it in another gulp. Zelda opened the bag again, searching for bandages to wrap his leg. She found them and took them out, along with one of their waterskins.

But then there was the issue of Link's pants.

They were beginning to dry to the wound, already, not to mention they were absolutely ruined in their current condition.

"Link, we need to get these off of you."

Link nodded, his fingers fumbling with his belt as Zelda worked to get his boots off of him. She set them aside and all but yanked his trousers down; throwing them off to a corner of the room that somehow did not have Yiga bodies strewn about it.

Propriety be damned in that moment: Link was bleeding out in a graveyard of Yiga corpses, the furthest thing on their mind was his modesty about not having pants on.

And Zelda was not about to add another body to the grave.

She saw the wound then, angry and red against his skin, and though it looked bad, she had a feeling it looked worse than it actually was, with the blood dried all around it. She ripped a bandage off of the roll, uncorking the waterskin and dabbing the bandage with it, and began to wipe at the wound, cleaning it.

"_Shit,"_ Link hissed between his teeth, eyes clenched shut, head digging into the wall behind him.

"Sorry," Zelda murmured, making quick work of his leg.

Link looked at her as she did this, and suddenly his face was shrouded in worry, "The Yiga didn't get you anywhere, did they?"

Zelda hadn't checked herself for any injuries; she hadn't remembered any pain during her fight, and with the adrenaline having gone down, she felt perfectly fine, albeit a little sore.

She was still rusty after one hundred years, after all.

"No, Link," she responded softly, clearing the blood from his leg, "They didn't touch me."

"How did you manage to defeat all of those Yiga without even a scratch on you?"

"I made sure to hit them before they could hit me."

"I've fought Yiga all my life and yet they still got me."

"Perhaps we have been wrong all this time and _I _am actually the Legendary Hero."

"Hey, now wait a minute –"

Zelda laughed, a soft, musical thing, tossing aside the soiled rag, his wound now clean. Gently, she moved to wrap his leg, having Link bend his knee slightly so she could wrap it easier.

"Do you think you're going to be able to walk?" Zelda asked, nervousness creeping into her voice.

"I think so," Link said, his face regaining its color, "I feel slightly better, thanks to that potion, but it only does so much. It can't make the wound go away, but it does help my body heal itself against the attack. Give me a couple of hours or so, and I think I should be able to walk, but it might be a while until I can run again."

Zelda nodded slightly, wrapping his leg tightly with the bandage. She noticed out of the corner of his eye that he seemed to be slightly nursing his right arm, gently holding it with his left. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Link, let me see your arm."

Almost instantaneously, Link held out his left arm for her, his right sliding to his side, hidden from view. Zelda sighed, tying off his bandage on his leg.

"Your other arm, Link."

Sheepishly, Link held out his right arm, palm facing down. Zelda took his wrist in her hand and sharply flipped it over, palm facing up. From just below the middle of his wrist to his elbow was a long, yet clean, cut. She hummed, scooting around his legs to his other side, closer to his arm.

"That cut doesn't look too bad, actually," She murmured, and she was back on the cliff sides of Death Mountain, following a monster attack. He had gotten a similar cut on his arm following that attack, and she might have said something similar in that instance, as well. She remembered fearing that the increases in attacks were a sign of the return of Calamity Ganon.

As much as she hated to admit it, it seemed history was set to repeat itself.

She began to wrap his arm, "How do you suppose we will get down get to the stairs? It drops a ways down before the stairs start, are we going to be able to use the paraglider to get down?"

"Yeah," Link grunted, as Zelda tied off his arm, "We'll just need to take it slow on the descent, I'm not sure how landing is going to work with my leg."

"What if I hold the paraglider and you climb on my back?"

"That would be worse," Link replied, "I don't think I can bend my leg at that angle without hurting it if I climbed on your back. Besides, I don't think you'd be able to carry me."

"Link, you underestimate me," Zelda smirked, "I held my own against an ambush from the Yiga Clan without so much as a _scratch _on me. I think I could handle carrying you on my back for a couple of seconds."

"Oh, sure," Link said sarcastically.

"Anyways," Zelda continued, "As much as I want for you to rest your leg and heal, I think we might both be better off _not _surrounded by the corpses of forty Yiga. Nor do I want to be here if they have reinforcements coming."

"Okay, but before we go…"

"Yes?"

"Can I at least put pants on?"

"No."

Zelda laughed, and Link rolled his eyes, grabbing his bag and pulling out a spare pair of trousers. He managed to shimmy them on without any help from Zelda, but did enlist her help in standing up, wobbling a little before testing his weight on his left leg. It was sturdy at least, and he was able to walk a bit. Link mentally thanked Beedle for keeping potent ingredients in stock. He put his boots on and strapped everything back onto his back.

Slowly, but steadily, they made their way back towards the center of the chamber, where the gaping hole was where the shrine used to sit. The stairs were hundreds of meters down, illuminated by a soft glowing green light. Zelda had to wonder if it was a natural light or if it was created to last thousands upon thousands of years.

"After we drop in, this is it," Link said, slowly, "There won't be another way back out, unless we both manage to gain the stamina to climb back up. We will have to keep moving, no matter what, and find another way out on the other side."

Steadily, Zelda took his hand in hers, "Let's do this."

Link shifted his pack and weapons from his back over to the side, giving room for Zelda to climb back on. She did, and unlike before, where he was steady under her weight, he did stagger a little bit, placing more weight on his right leg.

"Are you okay?" Zelda asked over his shoulder, next to his ear.

"I'm fine," Link grunted, "Just balancing everything out."

He took his paraglider from of his back and opened it completely, taking the handles in his hands. He looked down into the hole, seeing how far down the stairs were, calculating it. He rocked on his heels a couple of times, one foot placed in front and the other in back, preparing himself, before he leaped and jumped into the hole.

The paraglider did not jerk as violently as it had out on the Rowan Plain, before they had jumped into the canyon. Zelda imagined it was probably that there was less air in this cavern than out on the surface of Hyrule.

She held on tightly, her legs wrapped around his waist, and her arms around his shoulders. Their descent was slow, covering a meter or so every couple of seconds. With it, the air got thicker, mustier, and the cavern got darker, the light from the surface dissipating at an alarming rate. The only light the two of them could see was coming from the green glow of the stairs beneath them, but it would be a while yet before it would illuminate anything in front of them.

As they fell further into the ground, the green glow began to illuminate parts of the walls, and Zelda realized in that moment that they were not surrounded by natural forming rock. It was carved, structured, with small swirls decorating the walls; all about the same size. She recognized this as Zonai architecture, much like she had seen over one hundred years prior in her trips to the Spring of Courage in the Faron region. She knew from her studies that the Zonai had been wiped out thousands of years ago, its cause still unknown.

Zelda couldn't help the bubbling feeling of excitement in her: they were the first people to transverse these ruins in millennia. She couldn't contain her curiosity about what else could be found down here.

And while she was curious and excited to find new discoveries, she couldn't help the feeling of dread regarding the reason for their mission.

After what had seemed to take forever, they finally made their way to the stairs, Link staggering slightly as they landed, but otherwise completely fine. Zelda jumped off of his back, and looked back up the hole. Their entrance into the ancient Zonai city was but a small dot of light at the top of the tunnel, barely noticeable. It didn't make her feel much better about the mission.

She turned around and gasped at the sight before her, looking around. They had landed at the top of the stairs leading into the Zonai ruin, and the most magnificent Luminous Stones she had ever seen illuminated the cavern. They towered over her, forming a crystalline structure, its light purer than she had ever seen it. Up on the surface of Hyrule, the Luminous Stones were tainted with other ores, dirt, and rocks. They gave off a greenish glow, but not to the magnitude that these stones did. They were bright and calm, and she could nearly see her reflection in them. She wished she had the Sheikah Slate in that moment to be able to capture pictures of its glory; but she was sure that even pictures wouldn't be able to do it justice later on.

Looking forward at her knight, she noticed that he was just in awe of the crystals in front of him as well. He placed his hand on the stone, his hand tracing a nonexistent line. Then, without preamble, he unsheathed the Master Sword and jammed it into the crystal, pieces breaking loose from it.

"Link!" Zelda reprimanded, grabbing his uninjured arm, "What were you thinking?"

Link sheathed the Master Sword and held up the broken crystal in his hand, its green glow illuminating shadows over his face, "Creating a lamp."

Oh. Zelda supposed that made sense, and it was more practical than carrying a torch. While they had packed some torches with them, they only had a very limited quantity of them, and so making use of what supplies the ruins could give them would help to stretch their resources.

They made their way down the stairs for a while yet, Link placing an arm around Zelda's shoulders as his leg began to limp under his weight. They would need to find a place to stop soon, but the stairs in front of them seemed to go down with no end in sight. She wondered briefly just how deep this cavern would go and how deep the Ancient Zonai City was beneath Hyrule Castle.

They came across a small landing in the stairs, wide enough for them to make camp on. They stopped there for the night, Zelda easing Link onto the ground gently, and began setting up camp.

The air was cool beneath the ground, but not as cold as it was becoming on the surface. The many layers of ground between them and the outside world did well to insulate the air, and for that, Zelda was grateful. She made quick work of setting up both of their sleeping mats, as Link put together a small fire. He cooked the meat they had gotten just that morning, before they made the descent into the temple. It would be their last fresh meal for a while, everything else being cooked beforehand and prepackaged.

As they went to sleep that night, Zelda sighed, tossing and turning. Tomorrow, they would begin their journey into the depths of the ruin.

And they hadn't the faintest idea of what to expect.


	12. Chapter 12

Malice

By: dontwaitupxx

* * *

Chapter Twelve

* * *

The trip through the Zonai ruins was going to be long and tedious, it seemed.

It had been a few days since they had first entered the ruins from the Forgotten Temple. The path was long, with twists and turns and dead ends, meant to confuse those that were unfamiliar with the way through. It reminded Link of the Lomei Labyrinths, in the Hebra, Akkala, and Gerudo regions, except on a much thinner, linear scale. They were deep within the ground, and around them, surrounding them, were high, thick walls, with luminous stones scattered intermittently. More than once, they had trekked to a dead end, having to backtrack, trying to keep a mental map in their heads of where they had been and where they hadn't.

It seemed that the princess and the hero both had drastically different thoughts on where they had been.

"Link, we have already gone down this path," Zelda said, an exasperated tone in her voice.

"No, we haven't," Link argued, "We went down a path that looked _similar _to this, but not this exact path."

"All of the paths look like this, Link."

"Not all of them," Link countered, "If you look at the architecture on the sides of the walls, you can see subtle differences."

"And I don't suppose that you have taken the time to memorize every subtle difference in these walls?"

"Well as a matter of fact I have."

"Really? Like what?"

"Well," he pointed towards the tops of the walls, "You can see that this wall's pattern repeats three times instead of four –"

"You actually counted?"

"-and the last path was one hundred and forty steps, whereas this one is one hundred and twenty –"

"Okay, now you're just messing with me."

"Maybe," the tops of Link's lips curled upwards, a betrayal of a smile showing, "But also," his left hand went out towards the wall, where a bed of luminous stone was glowing softly, and almost indistinctly, he snapped off a small piece, dropping it to the floor, "I have been leaving a trail, so we know where we've been, so we don't backtrack," he pointed forward, "Let's keep going."

Link was doing surprisingly well on his injured leg, considering how deep the arrow had shot through it. He had a slight limp to it still, however, he needed no assistance in walking through the deep labyrinths towards the center of Hyrule. The Hearty Lizards they had gotten from Beedle a few days prior at the Dueling Peaks must have been incredibly potent, as their effects had been exponential. Zelda had noticed as they had stopped briefly to eat, as he had changed out the bandages, that the wound itself was already healing well, looking as though it was well over a week old versus a few days.

She was going to send that traveling merchant a parcel of all sorts of critters and insects as a thank you should they get themselves out of this mess.

The second night that the two of them were in the tunnels had found Zelda growing faint by the fire. No doubt, it seemed, that there was a blood moon that night, reviving the agents of Ganon across all of Hyrule. This was the second time that she grew faint from a blood moon, and it made Link worry: was this a side effect that she would always endure following a blood moon? Were they to grow worse and worse each time as Ganon grew in power? The second time did not seem as intense as the first time, but two incidents did not give sufficient evidence to perceive a growth in his power. Though they were deep under Hyrule, she could still feel the effects: did that mean that it was worse above ground? Link couldn't be sure, but his grip around her shoulders tightened, holding her gently to his side.

It wasn't until they were about to stop for the fifth night that Link and Zelda had a breakthrough in the tunnels. There were a couple of steps leading down from their current tunnel, which was new: most of the tunnels were linear on one level, and did not have any steps going up or down. There was a large archway ahead of them, with spiral and other Zonai symbols etched into the sides. Zelda recognized one of them in the shape of a dragon, its long body coiling inward into a spiral.

As they stepped through the archway, Zelda gasped, looking up. It was a large, cavernous room, with ceilings reaching higher than the labyrinth had, reaching up to heights she could not see, past the dust where the light of the luminous stones could not reach. Ahead of her stood a massive structure, not unlike a palace, reaching heights high above, standing multiple stories in front of them, stacked with stones and columns. At its center was a dark, ominous entrance, with absolutely no light coming from within. At each side of the entrance sat two claw-like structures, and Zelda's first thought was that of a Rito. However, upon further inspection, they looked to be the talons of a dragon, reminding her distinctly of Naydra; Link of Farosh.

It would seem that they had found the entrance to the ancient Zonai city. The weight of what they both had to do was now crushing on both Link and Zelda. Link held his hand out towards Zelda, brushing his fingertips in her sleeve. She looked towards him and couldn't make out the look on his face.

"Let's stop here for the night," Link suggested, already shrugging off his pack from his back, motioning her over to a small, flat area, relatively devoid of debris and rocks. Zelda nodded, following him over towards where they would make camp. He began to start a fire with the small bits of wood he had packed; she set up their bedrolls, side by side.

It was quiet between them for a while longer, as Link unpacked some rice rolls and divided them between the two of them. There was now a small fire burning in front of them, though it was neither warm nor cold in the caverns beneath Hyrule. It felt good to feel _something _against her skin, and to see her knight in light that did not cast a sickly green against his skin. He sat next to her now, with the orange flames casting soft shadows against their skin, giving them a warm glow.

"What do you think we will find inside?" Zelda asked between bites, shooting glance towards the entrance to the city.

"I'm not sure, but I have my suspicions, "Link began, "The Zonai love a good puzzle, and so I'd imagine if Ganon is buried here in the city, we will have to overcome obstacles and trials to get to him. Whatever the city is hiding is going to be well hidden, probably in the center of the city."

"Do you think there will be any of Ganon's monsters down here?"

"Perhaps," Link mused, "However, I don't think it will be anything that we can't handle."

They were silent for a moment longer, chewing quietly, and Zelda took that time to look up at the ancient architecture surrounding them, wondering precisely just how old it was, how long the ancient Zonai had been gone for, and for what mysterious reason had they vanished.

She looked at Link again, watching the shadows of the flames dance across his eyes, "Where do you think we are in relation to Hyrule Castle?"

Link was silent for a moment, pondering the question, as he stared into the fire, "I can't say for certain how far we have travelled from where we entered at the Forgotten Temple, but from how much we have walked and if this structure is as monumental as I think it is, we are probably near the outskirts of Hyrule Castle Town, or as far as the Breach of Demise. I would imagine that what we are looking for is beyond the archway to this structure, but it's impossible to say how deep this structure goes, or if it is one of a series. We very well could be directly beneath Hyrule Castle at the moment."

"It's terrifying to think that Ganon could have been beneath my home my entire life," Zelda murmured, scooting closer to Link and laying her head on his shoulder. He wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her flush against him.

"I know," Link said, pressing his lips to her forehead, lightly kissing her, "All the legends speak of Ganon emerging from deep beneath Hyrule Castle. What's more terrifying is that no one had realized this before."

"I know," Zelda breathed in the damp air of the catacombs and sighed, her eyes slowly closing against the flickering flames.

"Get some sleep," Link said, adjusting her onto her bedroll, "We'll tackle whatever is next in the morning."

She fell asleep then, the flames flickering behind her closed eyelids, thinking of luminous stones and dragon's claws.

* * *

They were foolish to think that the Yiga wouldn't have reinforcements.

A maniacal laughter, then instinct settled in as she quickly rolled over in a half sleep filled daze. A Vicious Sickle struck home where her neck had been not a second earlier, and instantly, she was up, her eyes struggling to get used to the darkness, the fire having died down to mere embers in the night. Around her, she saw shadows forming, materializing out of thin air, with a sweet scent stagnant in the dusty air.

How had they managed to find them again? She reached for her bow and arrows on her back, but found that they were not there, having been set aside before she slept. Her dagger, similarly, was in that same pile, feet away from her on her bedroll, too far away for her to grab.

She felt herself roughly pulled back, and suddenly her knight was in front of her, Master Sword in hand, as the Yiga came closer and closer to them, and no sooner than a blink, were the Yiga running towards them, Vicious Sickles and Demon Carvers and Windcleavers and Duplex Bows out and swinging and firing, and Link was then moving, keeping her behind him, the Master Sword swinging and stabbing, but the Yiga were cunning, and Ganon had made them stronger, and though they were hit with Link's blade, they were not falling, they would not fall, they _could _not fall, but soon, Zelda felt _herself _fall, tripping over a rock, a ledge, a _banana_, who knew, and soon, she felt herself slung over the shoulder of a Yiga Blade Master, being taken away from the Yiga, away from the fight, her knight, her light, and she was screaming, cold and bitter, as she saw her knight fight against hundreds of Yiga, holding his own for the time being, yet it was as simple as a cut here, a bash there, a gash against his arm, a stab against his side, he was faltering, and quick, and Zelda knew that was impossible, because he was Farore's Champion, he was Hyrule's Champion, he was _her _Champion, chosen by the blade that seals the darkness, chosen by the Goddesses and Hylia to defeat Ganon and his followers, yet it seemed that even he was outnumbered, but certainly he couldn't be outmatched –

The Master Sword flew out of his hand and clattered on the stone floor of the Zonai ruins, hitting once, twice, three times on the stone floor. What was a warrior without his weapon?

The Yiga made quick work of him then, slashing and cutting and stabbing at the hero, now defenseless on the floor of the catacombs, hundreds of feet beneath the surface of Hyrule where no one could hear his screams, except, of course, Zelda, who heard his screams as the Yiga took the one final thing she had left in this world, and she screamed against the confines of the Yiga Blade Master who had her pinned down, his scratchy voice laughing maniacally in her ear, as she saw Vicious Sickles and Demon Carvers and Windcleavers lifted into the air time and time again before they were brought back down, before she soon realized that it was not her knight screaming anymore, but it was her, her screams echoing off of the stone walls of the ancient Zonai catacombs, screaming at them to stop, but knowing that it was too late.

She managed to get free of the Yiga Blade Master's grasp, kicking him in the stomach and rolling forward, using her momentum to create as much space as possible between them. She reached out blindly, searching for anything that she could use as a weapon, and found her Sheikah dagger, which she presumed must have been kicked over here in the chaos around their camp sight. Her fingers wrapped around it, anger coiling in her stomach, as the pivoted and drove the dagger towards the Yiga. The Yiga was quick though, and caught her wrist in his, twisting it, cutting off the circulation, but Zelda held fast, struggling against him, her strength coming from somewhere deep inside herself. The Yiga was saying something insistently, yet she couldn't hear it over the blood pounding in her ears, but looking at his lips, she saw that he was saying her name.

"Zelda…"

It was a whisper.

"Zelda."

She would not falter.

"_Zelda."_

She blinked, and when she opened her eyes, she was met not with a Yiga Blade Master, but her knight, his eyes wide and pleading, her wrist in his hand, twisted off to the side, and only now did she feel how painful it was to keep holding on. The dagger in her hand dropped, clattering against the stone floor. Her other wrist was on his chest, pushing against him, as he had his other hand around that wrist in a vice grip, trying to push her away. Only then did she realize the severity of the situation.

She slumped against the ground, breathing hard, pulling her head into her hands, unable to stop the tears from falling. She had very nearly stabbed Link, in the wake of her nightmare, unable to discern reality from her dreams. It was blending together, and she found herself shaking, in light of what might have happened.

Link reached towards her and Zelda visibly recoiled, crawling backwards from him, keeping space between them, "Stay back," Zelda hissed, her vision blurring from the tears.

"Zelda," his voice cracked, his hand still outstretched, but no longer moving towards her, "You're okay. No one is here to hurt you. It's just me."

"Link…" she whispered, blinking through her tears, thinking that after any blink, she might see the Yiga again.

"It's just me," Link reiterated, inching closer towards her, watching her carefully, "No one is going to hurt you."

She looked around their campsite, and saw that there were no signs of a Yiga attack, no bodies littered around, and no _bananas. _Their camp was undisturbed, minus her bedroll crumpled and her dagger, kicked far away from where they had been.

By now, he had inched close enough, to touch her shoulder, and carefully, he did, and upon seeing her slump slightly into it, reached out and grabbed her, pulling her into his embrace, tucking her head under his chin. Gingerly, she wrapped her arms around his waist, but upon feeling his hands rubbing tiny circles into her back, she fell apart, sobbing into his chest and shoulder.

She sat there crying in his lap, terrified at herself and in the wake of her dream. She had nearly stabbed Link because she thought he was Yiga. She hadn't realized yet after the dream had ended and after she had woken up that it was over. Only the Goddesses knew what could have happened had Link been a second slower or had she been a little bit stronger and it absolutely terrified her. Only now did she feel the strain on her arms and the pain on her wrist – it was pulsing violently with her heartbeat – and she briefly wondered how much energy a burst of adrenaline could actually give her. She felt completely worn down, exhausted beyond measure, collapsing into his shoulder.

Link waited patiently until she completely relaxed in his embrace, rubbing the small of her back. He was still trying to relax himself. He had been asleep when he woke and heard her shifting in her bedroll next to him. He would have brushed it off and gone back to sleep had it not been for the whimpering under her breath as she tossed and turned. The whimpers turned to cries and the cries turned to screams that echoed off of the walls of the ancient Zonai catacombs, making him nervous for any monsters that lurked deep in ancient the Zonai city.

He had reached out to her to grab her by the shoulder, to shake her awake, when she shifted violently against him, kicking him in the stomach. He had flinched, the breath taken out of him, but before he could catch his breath, her Sheikah dagger had materialized in her right hand, and was being driven alarmingly close to his chest. They struggled for a moment, his left hand gripping her wrist tightly, twisting it, and trying to get her to drop it. She pushed against his chest with her other hand, and he grabbed that one too, gripping both wrists in steel grips, wondering how she had gotten so strong. He said her name once, twice, three times, and then the feral look in her eyes disappeared and was replaced by something softer and simply Zelda.

His stomach still throbbed as he held her, and he reprimanded himself for not taking her boots off as he set her down on her sleeping mat the night before.

She was crying freely now, her breath picking up, her knuckles turning white as she fisted his tunic, and he held her closer, shushing her. She was trying to say something, but in her fright it was incomprehensible.

He whispered into her hair, whispering sweet nothings and whispering promises of safety and comfort. He knew not how to prevent these nightmares from happening – it was not her first nightmare since she her one hundred year battle nor would it be her last – but he knew to be there for her and to be her anchor to the world. A thought occurred to him, and he quickly scooped her up in his arms and took her back over to their camp, where their campfire had died long ago, its embers having long since cooled. He sat down onto the ground with her and grabbed his blanket, and slowly and methodically began cocooning her in it, wrapping her in it so all of her limbs were inside the blanket and she was pressed up to him. This proved to work well, as her cries slowed and her hiccups ceased. He held her then, tightly against his chest, her fingertips coming out slightly from the blanket where her face was.

"Link…"

"I know."

They stayed like that for a while, not moving, just breathing together and basking in each other's warmth. Link thought for a moment Zelda had fallen asleep, until she breathed in deep and sighed, curling into him.

"I had a nightmare about the Yiga," she began, whispering against his tunic, her breath warm, "They had attacked us in the middle of the night and had outnumbered us. They dragged me away and then disarmed you. You didn't stand a chance."

His lips found her forehead as she told the story, grazing against her temple, his eyes locked on a point just past their campfire.

"And then I tried to get away from the Yiga, and I tried to stab him, and then it was you," her voice cracked on that last word, a fresh glaze of tears staining her eyes, "Link, I am so sorry. I should have realized that I was awake, my judgment was compromised, and I couldn't see that it was you –"

"You have nothing to apologize for, Zelda," Link interrupted, his voice gruff against her hair, "It was a dream, and nothing more."

"But I could have hurt you."

"But you didn't," Link insisted, looking at her now in her eyes, "I'm okay, I'm not hurt, and you have nothing to be sorry for."

"How do we know that the Yiga aren't going to follow us back down here?" Zelda asked, her voice catching.

Link was silent for a moment; "We don't," he began, "We don't know if they're going to follow us back down here. Reinforcements very well might. But I saw the way that you fought against them before. You're strong; stronger than any person that I know, and even with these memories still haunting you, you still persevere. You held your own against all of those Yiga members back there on the surface without a scratch, even when I got an arrow to the leg," he laughed, shifting her weight, "And what's more impressive, you're strong enough to hold your own against _me."_

"Okay, mighty Champion, get off your high horse –"

Link laughed, combing his fingers through her hair, noticing that it was getting longer since she had cut it. There was a scuffle in the distance, "There's a lot of things that we can be afraid of – and it's okay to be afraid of them, but we can't be controlled by fear. Otherwise, we are giving into Ganon's power."

"You're right," Zelda said, and Link noticed the scuffle in the distance was getting louder, "I can't let myself become controlled by fear –"

Link shushed her then, as he listened. Up ahead, near the entrance to the ancient Zonai city, the scuffling was getting louder, echoing off of the cavern walls. Slowly and carefully, he leaned over and grabbed the Master Sword from his sleeping mat, not making a single sound as he unsheathed it and held it in his hand. He lifted a finger to his lips as he shifted Zelda onto the floor of the ancient Zonai catacombs, moving onto his feet, Master Sword in hand, towards where the entrance to the ancient Zonai city was.

The scuffling was getting louder and louder, its sounds echoing off of the ancient walls. It wasn't anything deafening loud, just a small scuffle, like the sound of arrowheads being scrapped against the stonework. He inched his way closer to the archway, the scuffling becoming clearer and louder until –

A small rat made its way out of the archway, its claws scratching against the stones, a small little chirp coming from it. Link relaxed, his sword arm dropping as he realized there was no threat.

"Just a rat," Link called out, turning back towards Zelda. Zelda, having moved out of her cocoon of blankets, laughed, although it was a strained, nervous laugh.

He moved back towards the campsite, remaking his and Zelda's sleeping mats again, "We probably have a few more hours of sleep left. Do you think you can get any rest?"

Zelda nodded, "I can try," she said, inching towards her sleeping mat and laying her head on her pillow.

Link shifted his mat towards hers, so he was right next to her, and wrapped an arm around her waist, holding her close to her chest. Zelda sighed, breathing him in, trying to relax her mind and her body. She realized quickly, however, just how exhausted she was, and quickly found herself falling asleep, safe in her knight's arms.

Link, however, didn't get any sleep that night. His eyes kept shifting from the entrance to the ancient Zonai city and to the labyrinths they came out of. Something about the dream Zelda had had put him on edge, and not that he thought any Yiga members would come after them as reinforcements, but it was better to be safe than sorry.


	13. Chapter 13

Malice

By: dontwaitupxx

* * *

Chapter Thirteen

* * *

When Zelda woke the next morning, all of their camp had already been packed up. Link was sitting next to the remnants of their fire from the night before, tending to the Master Sword, wiping it down with a cloth. The blade shone magnificently, even in the dark caverns of the Zonai ruins.

She quickly readied herself, and then they were off, heading up the steps into the heart of the ancient Zonai city. The archway in was pitch black, and even the luminous stones did not do well to light the way. Link took out a torch from his pack and quickly lit it, sending cascading shadows in every direction. More than once, Zelda was convinced that she saw something lurking in the shadows, but always, upon further review, she found that she didn't see anything there. Strange…

The pathway seemed to be narrowing around them, growing closer and closer together, until Link and Zelda could no longer walk side by side. Link led the way; stopping once or twice to look behind him to make sure Zelda was still there.

He bent down, suddenly; his fingers touching something cool on the ground. Zelda looked over his shoulder.

"What is it?" She asked, peering over his shoulder.

"The stonework here," he murmured, lifting himself onto his feet, "It's familiar. It is long since to have eroded; it is impossible to say how long ago these were made, but they look Hylian in design."

"Hylian? But this temple is Zonai."

"Yeah, well," Link looked over his shoulder at her, "It wouldn't be the first time that different tribes and races merged architecture and designs. Besides," he turned back towards the tunnel, "We very well could be directly beneath the castle. At some point, the styles have to merge."

The tunnel opened up ahead, and so the two trekked forward, the cave opening up around them, and Zelda gasped.

It was a large, open cavern, illuminated with large, pure luminous stones. Ahead of them was a large, albeit narrow, bridge, which was distinctly Zonai in design. It was held up with four large pillars, spanning from one side of the room to the other. Above them, the cavern went up as far as the eye could see, luminous stones dotting the walls as it went higher and higher, until the light could not reach them. Link followed the Hylian stonework right before the bridge to a small path, which led up in a circular path going up and out. The path was long since eroded: the stonework having crumbled away in some spots, and looking precarious in others.

Link paused, pondering this for a moment, before unsheathing his bow and a fire arrow, and shooting it straight up towards the ceiling of the cave. Both of them watched it as it flew up and up, father than either of them could see, before it fell back down, extinguishing itself against the walls of the cave.

Link let out a small laugh, "I think we found the escape route from Hyrule Castle."

They went onward then, not up into Hyrule Castle, but deeper into the ancient Zonai city. Zelda could hear rushing waters from beneath the bridge, and sure enough, when she looked down, she saw a small pool of water, with a small, but surprisingly strong waterfall pooling into it. She had to wonder where that water was coming from, and where the pool was depositing itself.

They made their way across the bridge, and into another dark cavern. This time, however, instead of just rocky walls surrounding them; the walls were carved, with depictions of Zonai swirls and dragons. A flash of red caught Zelda's eye, and she looked to her left, seeing paintings scattered across the cave walls, and Link was just walking right past them, without a care in the world.

"Link," Zelda hissed, pulling on his hood.

"What?" He turned back towards her, a furrow in his brow.

She pointed towards the walls he had passed, their red paint dull from years of erosion, but still legible.

He held the torch close, and Zelda could make out the drawings. Though in some places, the paintings were not clear, she could see what looked to be a giant man on top of a giant horse, wielding a spear, decidedly Gerudo in design. If that were not enough to convince her, she could very clearly see the Gerudo symbol etched by his figure.

"There," Zelda pointed, "That must be Ganon."

She moved along, her finger trailing slightly on the walls of the ancient Zonai city. She saw what looked to be an army depicted on the walls, the figures significantly smaller than that of Ganon, swirls and dragons designed intermittently in their illustration. She concluded that this must be the Zonai tribe, and was nearly convinced, were it not for two figures depicted in front of the army. One was depicted with a crown, and not much more to verify who it was, and the other was plainly designed, except for its sword, which was purple and grey in design, that she would know anywhere.

Reflexively, Link reached to grab the hilt of the Master Sword. Zelda could have sworn she felt a singular pulse coming from the sword.

The illustration depicted Ganon fighting the Zonai tribe and the princess and the hero from an age long past, but what made Zelda's heart stop cold was the thing depicted between them that they were fighting for.

"The Tri-Force," Zelda breathed.

The Tri-Force was exquisitely drawn, and looked to have suffered the least from wearing over time. Strangely enough, upon touching the painting of it, the Tri-Force shone dimly on her right hand. She looked towards Link's left hand and saw it glowing on his as well.

"There was a battle," Zelda began, "for the Tri-Force, this illustration depicts the hero and the princess fighting Ganon with the aid of the ancient Zonai tribe. What it doesn't depict is what the outcome of the battle was."

"Perhaps we will find that out later. It might be written elsewhere."

"Maybe," Zelda mused, "I'm curious though… history doesn't know what happened to the ancient Zonai tribes. All we know is that they vanished suddenly, with no trace. Perhaps we will find out what happened to them."

"Do you think their disappearance is linked to Ganon?"

"It's very possible," Zelda said, "They are depicted here fighting against him, and this battle is not known by historians today. This is something either lost to time, or…"

"Or what?" Link asked, carefully.

"Or something that history wanted to forget," Zelda finished.

As they walked along the pathway, they both noticed a light coming from the end of the tunnel. Instinctually, Link reached back and grabbed Zelda's hand, and they went towards it. It glowed a green color, much like the luminous stones had throughout the ruins, but it seemed brighter, in a way, bright enough to light up a room, instead of simply its surroundings. As they approached the archway into the room, Link brought a finger up to his lips and silently unsheathed the Master Sword, holding it out in front of him steadily.

As they entered the room, Zelda looked around, taking in her surroundings. There was nothing colossal about this room, much like the rest of the ruins had been. It was a lobby of sorts, with a centerpiece of luminous stones, as well as hanging lamps from the ceiling, with luminous stones sitting in chain like baskets. The room glowed a soft green, almost inviting. There were three doors on the first floor, one on each side, and then one directly in front of them, and then two staircases on either side, leading up to a landing. At the top of the landing stood a magnificent door, with a giant lock on it. What Zelda was more concerned with, however, was that the door was decorated with a Tri-Force as the centerpiece. It was surrounded by ancient Zonai architecture, with what looked like claws framing the outside of the doorway.

Link scoped the room, determining that they were the only ones there, and then Zelda followed him up to the second floor landing where the locked door was. Upon closer inspection, she saw that the lock was massive, needing three separate keys in order to open.

"Another trial," Link said, "Three trials, in fact. I'd imagine that the three doors in here lead to trials where if you're successful, you're rewarded with one of the keys." He paused, looking down from the landing towards the first door, "I'm not sure what to expect, but we should both be on our guard."

"Do you think that we will find Ganon through that door?" Zelda asked.

"Maybe," Link replied, "Whatever it is, it is clearly something the ancient Zonai wanted to keep locked away, and it was something they didn't want for just anyone to find. Whoever can unlock this door has to overcome whatever trials they have before they can open the door. Perhaps…"

"Perhaps what?" Zelda prodded.

"Perhaps its not a lock meant to keep people out… but to keep something in."

"Do you think a lock like that could keep something in?"

"I don't know," Link confessed, "But whatever is inside must have warranted the three keys."

They made their way down the stairs from the landing and stood outside of the first door, the anticipation building inside both of them. Carefully, Link pushed the door open, the door rumbling and the hinges creaking. The door opened, and they were met with a dark corridor, the green light from the main room spilling in. Instinctually, Link grabbed Zelda's hand, rubbing his thumb across the top of it, and they stepped inside.

It was a long narrow hallway, with specs of luminous stone imbedded into the walls, but not nearly enough to light the way. Link held the torch out in front of him, but they were only able to see a few feet in front of them. The hallway was short, however, and opened up into another sort of labyrinth. Link let go of Zelda's hand and held up the torch. The structure of it was eerily similar to the labyrinths in the Akkala, Gerudo, and Hebra regions. This one, however, had the luminous stones imbedded in the walls, and one could not see the ends of which the walls went up. There was a slight fog, however, that went a couple of feet off of the ground.

"The fog," Link mused, "It doesn't seem natural, especially since we aren't at the surface. What do you think, Zelda?"

Silence.

He looked behind himself, and his stomach plummeted.

Zelda was gone.

"_Zelda?" _Link called out, feeling lightheaded.

"_Link!" _He heard her call, but it sounded from far away, from deep within the labyrinth.

How had she managed to get so far into the labyrinth?

He dived deep into the maze, sprinting through the fog, calling out for her name. He heard her to his left, then to his right, and found himself disoriented in the fog. He had no idea where she had gone or how she had gotten there, and was soon out of breath, his hands on his knees as he breathed heavily, the fog blocking his field of vision.

The fog was swirling around him, and Link knew without a doubt that it was an unnatural thing. He could practically see its texture, swirling on its ends before dissipating into the air, before reforming again. He heard what sounded like a ringing of bells, light and delicate, before he went off running again, taking a turn deep into the ruins. He called out for Zelda again, yet it seemed as though the labyrinth swallowed up his cries, blocking the sound from travelling. He should have never let go of her hand, not even for a second. He slowed, as he went around a corner, but then stopped dead in his tracks.

He saw something – or rather – someone, in front of him, and he had to blink twice, thinking that he was just seeing things.

He knew that trident anywhere; he had it hanging in his home in Hateno, how had she gotten it? Slowly, deliberately, she turned around, facing him, with a small smile.

"Hello, Link."

"_Mipha…"_

* * *

Zelda was running, calling out for Link, yet she heard no reply, no answer. She had lost him earlier, having moved ahead to look more closely at the architecture of the labyrinth, but as she had, she was engulfed in the fog. When it finally dissipated, she was alone, in an unfamiliar part of the labyrinth. She heard him call out to her from far away, and she ran towards his voice, her footsteps sounding quiet in the vast ancient maze.

She turned a corner and gasped, startled, as she nearly ran into a section of the labyrinth that was covered in thick, thorny vines, the ends of which gleamed purple in the light of the luminous stones. She stepped backwards, tripping over a stone and fell backwards, shuffling away, and quickly pulling herself to her feet before running back the way she came.

The fog lay a few feet off of the ground, covering the ground in something magical and unnatural. Zelda ran through it, calling out for Link, and hearing faint answers back, though it was impossible to tell from which direction it came. She made a turn deep into the labyrinth, not knowing exactly where she was going, but certain that if she kept going, she was sure to find something. She turned the next corner and stopped dead in her tracks.

She hadn't seen her in over one hundred years, and though she knew she would never forget her face, the sight of her long, flowing hair down her back had her instantly in tears.

"Hello, little bird."

"Mother…"

She was just as she had remembered, her long golden hair cascading down her back, and wearing her royal blue dress. She had the same green eyes as her, and the most benevolent smile she had ever seen.

People had always said that she was the spitting image of the late queen: perhaps that was why it had been so difficult for her father to look at her.

Zelda reached a hand out towards her, taking a couple of steps forward until she paused, a look in her mother's eyes telling her otherwise.

"You're not really here, are you?"

Her mother smiled, but it did not reach her eyes, "Now, what makes you think that?"

"You… you've been gone; for years, now. It's the only logical explanation."

"I may not be around any longer in this little land of Hyrule, but that certainly does not mean that I am gone from you." Her mother closed the gap between them, holding her hand out on front of her and placing it on Zelda's outstretched hand. It felt warm and real on Zelda's hand, and she gasped at the sensation, wondering how this could be.

She remembered the day that her mother had died, how sad and broken her father had looked. Everyone in the castle had asked how she was doing, and how she would look back at all of them and tell them that though she was sad, she would be okay. She was the image of strength in the face of adversity, and she would not let anyone see her weak.

However, she had been strong for over one hundred years. Could she remain strong for a few moments longer?

"Do you remember the first day I took you outside of the castle grounds?" Her mother began, "You were young, then, maybe three or four, but you were so full of energy and life. We didn't go our far, just beyond the prairies in the Hyrule Fields, but it was like placing a fish in water: you were in your element. You thrived in the wilds; you _glowed _in the fields. I remember you would roll around in the grasses and the flowers, and most mothers would have been quick to reprimand you for it. However, you were free there, living alongside the wild."

"Mother, why are you telling me this? You're not making any sense, I –"

"Little bird," she continued, "You are meant to spread your wings and soar. A bird is not meant to be confined to a cage. A _queen _is not meant to be confined to a cage. A bird is meant to fly free among the wild."

She blinked, and she was gone. Here for a moment, gone in the next. Zelda hadn't even realized she had been crying before that moment.

She slumped down against the walls of the labyrinth, holding her knees to her chest. She thought perhaps it had been her mother's ghost, but it was unlikely. Her mother had been laid to rest over one hundred years ago, and her apparition was not that of a ghostly visage, without the green will-o'-the-wisps she had seen around the four champions. But her mother, she had felt so real, and the tones of her voice matched perfectly with how she remembered her mother to be. But logic set in, and she realized she must have been hallucinating. It was the fog, she decided, messing with her head and toying with her memories.

But then how did her hand feel so warm and real?

She brushed it off, giving herself a firm shake, before standing up and brushing the dust off of her pants. She ran off through the labyrinth, her thoughts set on finding Link, and making their way through the maze.

She ignored the fact that it was the first time she had ever cried over her mother.

* * *

Link stood, his mouth gaping, unsure of what to say, as he saw Mipha stand in front of him. He knew her to be dead, he had seen her ghost aboard Divine Beast Vah Ruta with his own eyes, except now, she looked alive, her feet firmly on the ground.

He felt a sad yearning towards her, one that he hadn't felt when he had freed her from the Divine Beast. No memory accompanied it, however, the emotion was there. It was one of sadness, one of longing and desire, yet he couldn't place why that was.

She had a small smile adorning her features, and she was walking towards him slowly, her steps calculated. Every instinct told him to take a step back, to think rationally about why and how she was here, but he couldn't. He was overtaken by a strange urge inside him, accompanied by something that he couldn't remember.

Mipha's webbed hand reached out and touched the back of Link's hand. It felt cold, yet natural, and though no memories came back to him in that moment, he felt a sense of companionship with Mipha that he hadn't remembered before. He knew from his time in the domain in the past couple of months that he had a long history with the Zora, since his childhood, and that he and Mipha were close; close enough, in fact, that Mipha would create armor for him as a way of proposing. Whether he had felt the same way about her had been lost to his memories from a century prior, however, in that moment, he felt something he hadn't felt before: something warm, and dear, and –

"It's good to see you, again."

His mouth was dry, and he was unsure if he could speak, but he swallowed thickly and tried, "It's good to see you, too, Mipha."

_Mipha… _saying her name on his lips sounded natural, like he had said it many times before. How was this so different now? He remembered snapshots from their lives, but not enough to constitute remembering her, and yet now, things were different. It was like he felt the feelings and emotions behind the memories without the actual memories to accompany it.

"Do you remember the day we went to the Veiled Falls?" Mipha pondered, her webbed hand grazing over his. It sent a shiver through him, as he tried to think back, "You were younger then, but you were not a child anymore. You had grown taller since the last time I saw you, and you had a harder look in your eyes. You also now had that sword strapped to your back," she gestured noncommittally, "The Princess had just arrived weeks prior, asking me to be the Zora Champion. I had accepted without hesitation. We were looking out over Zora's Domain, both with a heavy burden given to us. Do you remember what I said to you that day?"

Link shook his head, unable to remember, though it felt as though the memory was on the tip of his tongue. As she described it, he imagined it, and he knew without a doubt that it was his memory of that day.

Mipha continued, a sad look in her eyes, "I had said that no matter what happens, if you ever need anything, that Zora's Domain should be like a beacon guiding you home. The Zora will always welcome you home, because they care about you –"

"-just as much as I care about you," Link finished, the words feeling natural on his lips.

Mipha smiled, a sad sort of thing, before nodding once. Link would come to find a century later that the Zora in the domain would not feel that way forever about him, especially following the death of their beloved princess.

He blinked once and she was gone, in her wake a puff of fog. He let go of the breath he was holding, his breath shaking, and he saw tear drops fall and land on the floor of the labyrinth. He shook his head, pulling back the tears, and once again felt like the same knight he was all those years ago: passive and stoic, not letting his emotions show.

He set off down the labyrinth in a full sprint, making his way towards what he thought would be the center of the maze. The luminous stones from above shone down dimly, casting the labyrinth in a pale green glow, much like he had seen the ghosts of the champions in their Divine Beasts. However, Mipha, just then, had not been cast in the same ghostly glow. It was strange…

But he brushed it off, instead, wondering why he had seen her here. He knew rationally it could not have been her. The fog around him swirled, reflecting small particles of green light. Could it have been the fog, causing him to see things? Causing him to see people that were gone from this world, but that he missed?

Or that he loved?

His heart ached at that thought, though he didn't have any memories of loving her. He knew that she loved him, as she had crafted that armor for him, and the Zora had loved him too, as one of their own. Was it possible then…

Did it matter anymore? He didn't think so. He rounded the corner, and very nearly ran into a section of the labyrinth that was covered in thick, thorny vines, the ends of which gleamed purple in the light of the luminous stones. He turned back around, running back down the hall of the labyrinth, and turned into the heart of it weaving through the twists and turns, keeping his thoughts far away from Mipha. He kept running and running and running, until –

He smacked hard into something, falling backwards onto the ground, with the wind knocked out of him. He looked up and saw Zelda across from him, on the ground, rubbing her nose. In an instant, he had her in his embrace, holding her tightly to him, lest the fog try and take her away again.

"Link," she exclaimed, clutching to the back of his tunic, "I was beginning to think I had lost you."

"I won't ever lose you again," Link promised, staring at a point on the wall across from him.

He leaned back and pressed his lips insistently to hers, his one hand holding the back of her head, his other around the small of her back. She clutched the back of his tunic with one hand, the other going to the back of his neck. She pulled away slightly, noticing that his eyes were screwed shut, with a distressed look on his face.

"Link, what's going on?" Zelda asked, resting her forehead against his, "Talk to me."

"I…" he paused, unsure of what to say, "I saw something here, in the maze."

"I did too."

At this, Link's eyes opened, looking at her deeply, "You did? What did you see?"

"I saw my mother," Zelda answered, a faraway look in her eyes, "We spoke, briefly. I don't think she was actually here. I think it was the fog, making me hallucinate."

"What did you guys talk about?"

"It doesn't matter; what did you see?"

"I…" he paused again, his breath caught in his throat, "I – I saw my mother too."

"You did…" Zelda hummed, a quizzical look in her eye, "Perhaps it is that the fog in this maze makes us see who we long for the most; who we miss the most in our lives."

"Yes, perhaps that's it," Link said, a little quickly at that, but Zelda didn't notice, instead, opting to stand up. She held out her hand for Link, and he grabbed it; he couldn't help but notice that it was warm, instead of cold.

They made their way without much trouble through the rest of the labyrinth, both hand in hand; Link held her hand so tightly she almost had to protest. They made their way to the center and found a chest and a trapdoor; inside the chest was the first of the small keys needed to open the master lock. Link went to open the trap door: it was a ladder leading down to a small tunnel leading back to the main lobby area.

He had her go down the ladder first, and he shut the trap door behind them, wary of any other apparitions that could come to be.


	14. Chapter 14

Malice

By: dontwaitupxx

* * *

Chapter Fourteen

* * *

They climbed out of the small trap door back into the main corridor of the ancient Zonai city. A puff of dust burst into the air upon the door opening, having not been used in millennia. Zelda stepped out first, dusting herself off once on her two feet once again, and then leaning up against the wall of the room, closing her eyes. Link followed her, closing the trap door behind him, the door sealing itself into the floor, a perfect fit.

They were both emotionally drained from the previous trial. They didn't know what trials would face them next, but if it were anything like the labyrinth they had just encountered, both Link and Zelda were not sure that they wanted to continue.

Seeing Zelda's mother had conjured something up within her that she had not ever felt; or perhaps, it was something that she had kept suppressed within herself for the last one hundred and ten years. She missed her mother, sure, that was a given, but for the first time in over a century, she felt herself grieving for her mother. It was something she had not allowed herself to do before.

And Link – Link was quiet, which was not unusual for him. However, it was unusual in the way that his eyes were downcast, as he set up camp for the night. It was unusual in that he didn't ask her what she preferred for dinner that night from his pack, and that he would not dare to look at her directly. It was strange: it reminded her of when he was her knight one hundred years prior, except more cold, and more distant. In the time since they had defeated the Calamity Ganon, she had come to know of a Link that was emotionally more open and unguarded; one that was more freely ready to speak his mind and who would speak _with _her, as equals. But now, it was like their relationship had taken a few steps back, and now there was a barrier between them.

She wondered what it was that he remembered about his mother. She did not know much about his mother from a century prior, and only knew about his father because he was a part of the Royal Guard. One thing she did remember with the utmost clarity though, was Link confiding in her one hundred years ago. He had said that though his mother had said she was so proud of him after he had drawn the Master Sword, he couldn't help but feel he had condemned all of Hyrule.

Her eyes followed him as he set up their camp in the middle of the ancient Zonai city. It was methodical, in a way. He lit the fire with a quick strike of flint, never hesitating, and he rolled out their two bedrolls, side by side, with her bedroll thoughtfully placed closer to the fire and further from the main entrance from which they came. To her left and in front of her stood the two ominous doors to the next two trials. In her hand, she clutched the first of the three damned keys that would open the giant lock on the second floor.

She saw him take out some veggie rolls from his pack and divided them amongst their two plates. He then sat cross-legged in front of the fire, unstrapping the Master Sword from his back and setting it beside him, making no move to touch the veggie rolls on his plate.

She sat down next to him, twisting the key between her fingers, feeling the edge of the skeleton key against her fingertips. It glowed a strange sort of cerulean in the firelight, its smooth metal edges unworn against the test of time.

"I can put that in my pack, if you'd like," Link said, his voice raspy, almost. Zelda nodded wordlessly, gently handing him the key and watching him put it in the front pouch of his bag.

They were silent for a few more minutes, the fire in front of them crackling against the green glow of the ancient Zonai city. Neither of them had touched their veggie rolls, and yet neither of them were surprised. Zelda leaned her head against Link's shoulder, yet recoiled slightly when Link visibly tensed next to her. She looked at him, the question in her eyes, and he turned towards her, looking at her for the first time since they had completed the last trial.

"I'm sorry," he said, beckoning her closer. She complied, placing her head back on her shoulder. She felt his arm snake around her gently, pulling her towards his side, "It's just been a lot today."

"It has," Zelda agreed, "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No," Link said, a little harshly at that, but Zelda did not prod him further.

She thought back to the labyrinth, when she had seen her mother. She had spoken of that memory in the prairies of the Hyrule Fields, and though Zelda had nodded through it all, it was only a fragment of the memory that she remembered. If she were truly honest, she really didn't remember her mother being there, only that she rolled around in the flowers, plucking them from the ground to place in her hair.

She sighed, nuzzling her cheek against his shoulder, "She used to call me little bird."

"I'm sorry?"

"My mother. It was a name she gave me when I was young."

"Isn't that what –"

"Yes. It was."

She paused, before inhaling a shaky breath, "After mother died, Urbosa would be the only person to ever call me that, only…"

"Only what?"

"Only, I don't remember mother ever calling me little bird. I only know this because Urbosa told me so."

They were silent for a few more amicable minutes, save for their gentle inhalations and the crackling of the fire. Gingerly, Zelda lifted herself off of Link's shoulders and reached for her veggie rolls. She plopped one in her mouth, and though it had been cooked days before and had been preserved in paper in their packs, it was still Link's cooking, and undeniably delicious. As she chewed, Link seemed to finally notice that he had indeed set out food for them. He grabbed his plate and devoured all of his before Zelda had finished her second one. From one hundred years to now, no matter what had changed in the world and between them, his gluttony for food was one of the things that had remained an everlasting constant.

They turned in for the night – or was it morning? They had no way to tell. They fell asleep on their bedrolls: Zelda dreaming of Silent Princesses on the Hyrule Fields and Link dreaming of a certain princess of the Domain.

* * *

They packed up camp the next day, leaving a few remnants behind, knowing that they would probably camp here again at least one more day. They left behind a few things: their bedrolls, their food, and their wood for fires, but made sure to bring along the more essentials: water, their weapons. Link searched the floor beforehand, hoping to find one or both of the other trap doors that would lead them straight to the final two keys so they could bypass the trials altogether, but the ancient Zonai architecture was seamless, and no matter how hard he tried, there was no way for him to uplift any of the stonework in that main lobby to lead to the chests. He couldn't even get the trapdoor they had come through the day before to lift from the ground. There wasn't even the smallest of cracks to hint that it was there before; it simply was part of the floor, the grooves all perfectly aligned.

How he wished for the Sheikah Slate's functionality in that moment. What he would do to see if any of these were magnetic, or if he could figure out how to use it with a combination of stasis and some well-placed hits, or if he could simply blast it off with a bomb.

But alas: they no longer had that ancient technology to aid them in their mission.

They both stood in front of the second door, Zelda's Sheikah bow strapped to her back and her dagger to her hip, the Master Sword strapped to Link's back, glowing a soft sort of blue in the green glow. They were on their guard, wary of anything happening here like had happened in the previous trial. Link breathed in, and then stepped forward, opening the door to the second trial. It groaned as it opened, hinges creaking as the first door had, having not been utilized in Hylia knew how long. Like before, they were met with a dark corridor, surrounded by glowing luminous lights, except instead of a stone floor, it was wooden.

Link grabbed Zelda's hand before stepping into the corridor, noticing that the luminous stones reflected back a ways in front of them, and that the corridor was, in fact, a dead end. They stepped into the corridor fully, the wood beneath their feet creaking as they stepped forward, trying to make sense of a dead end in the ancient Zonai ruin, trying to understand what the trial was to have them do.

Zelda placed her hand out towards the stonework on the side of the corridor, and noticed that the stonework was damp, with droplets of water cascading down from the condensation of the room. Only now did she realize how humid the air was around them, and it seemed that Link realized this at the same time as well.

There was an odd sound coming from the corridor, and she could not pinpoint from which direction it was coming from. It was a sort of rushing sound, like leaves in the wind, brushing against each other in the crisp autumn air. She had to wonder if they were near a cavern that led outside, or if they were somehow close enough to the surface to hear it. She took a step forward towards the end of the corridor, and the wood floors beneath her feet creaked loudly, protesting against their weight. Only then did she look down and notice that the wood was rotting away, small woodchips sticking up and holes staring back at them. The wood groaned and shifted, caving inward, and Zelda realized in horror that there was no floor beneath the wood, at least, not directly. A cold feeling settled in her stomach as she looked at Link, the words on the tip of her tongue. She could tell that Link had realized this too, as he looked back at her, his hand still holding hers, albeit, tightly now.

"Link…"

She took a step back towards where they came, before she heard a loud groan and a snap. The floor beneath her fell away, and she screamed, hearing her name yelled as the air rushed around her ears, and that tight grip on her hand turned into a death grip on her arm as Link pulled himself to her. As they fell aimlessly from where the wood floor had been destroyed. Link wrapped himself around her, pulling himself beneath her. Around her, swirls of pale green light danced in her vision as they fell, disorienting her as the wind ripped at their skin and tunics.

It couldn't have been more than a few seconds, but the fall felt almost longer than the century she had spent fighting the Calamity in Hyrule Castle.

The wind was knocked violently out of her as they hit the water beneath the city, Link taking the brunt of the damage. The fell down and down, the dark, cold water a stark contrast to the stale, green-lit corridors. Zelda looked frantically around her in the water, noticing that she could barely see in front of her, the bubbles from their descent swirling around her. Vaguely, she noticed that Link was still holding onto her waist tightly, his muscles rippling as they fought against their initial fall that was still pulling them down into the depths of this underground lake.

Most predominately, she noticed that she was out of air, it having been ripped out of her when they had smashed into the water. She fought frantically not to open her mouth, her desperation for air burning from the center of her chest outwards, where she could feel it burn from the tips of her fingers to the tips of her toes.

Distantly, she felt them hit the bottom of the underground lake, and she could only guess just how far they had fallen from and just how deep the lake was. Link coiled inward, bending his knees, before pushing off against the bottom of the lake, sending them swimming up and up, his one arm wrapped tightly around her midsection as the other swam up and up.

They both gasped for air when they broke the surface of the water, Zelda coughing up water as she breathed in the cold, damp air.

"Zelda, are you okay?" Link asked frantically, his voice rough and hoarse, slightly echoing off of the high, cavernous walls.

"Yes," Zelda gasped, struggling to keep her head above water.

Link scanned the cavern, looking for any solid land, and he found a small outcrop on the other side of the underground lake, glowing in the green luminous stones that shined above them, sending casting glows from their vantage points. Together, they made their way over towards the outcrop, swimming clumsily. Only once they reached the outcrop did Link let go of Zelda, bent over on his hands and knees as he spat out the remaining water from his lungs.

Zelda did so similarly, except she was realizing with a dreadful feeling that that wasn't going to be the thing they would need to be worried about. The air was brisk in the cavern with the underground lake, much cooler than it was on the upper floors of the ancient Zonai city. Between the air and being completely soaked to the bone, her teeth began to clatter together, and she knew they would need to warm up soon, lest their body temperature get too cold. She looked behind her, expecting to see a chest with a key inside, and perhaps a way out. All she saw, however, was the glow of the luminous stones across the rocky outcrop, with no chest, and no stairs back up.

She looked towards Link, who had his eyes screwed shut as he held himself up on his hands and knees, visibly shaking. She reached a hand towards him, placing it on his shoulder. He recoiled and hissed through his teeth, visibly tensing.

"Link, you're –"

"I'm fine," Link hissed between his teeth, pulling himself shakily onto his feet, trying to keep his teeth from clattering.

"Where's the chest?" He asked, looking around, locking eyes with Zelda. Once seeing the look in her eyes, he understood, and they both looked back towards the underground lake, both trying to convince themselves that they were shaking because of the cold and not because of the fear. Link squinted, noticing an outcrop of luminous stones on the far wall, all concentrated together, and he got an idea. Without any preamble, he dove back into the water, as graceful as a dolphin, and swam to the middle of the lake again before diving back down.

It was a long, excruciating ten seconds before he broke the surface of the water again and swam back towards her with impeccable speeds. No doubt, having trained with the Zora as a child had trained his muscles to transverse the water effortlessly. He pulled himself up onto the rocky outcropping, panting slightly.

"There's an underwater cave on the other side of the lake," Link said, pushing his hair back from his face, "I think if we can make it there and through it to the other side, then we will find the chest and our way out of here."

"But what if we can't?" Zelda asked, her green eyes glowing emerald in the light of the stones, "What if the cave is too long?"

"We don't exactly have much of a choice," Link muttered, rubbing his hands on her forearms in a pathetic attempt to warm her up, "It's either that or die down here freezing to death."

"Okay," Zelda conceded, before looking at him with a desperate look in her eyes, "But Link, if we don't make it out of this, I need you to know that –"

Her words were cut off by his lips, searing and insistent on hers despite the cold air surrounding them. He pulled back slightly, his breath warm against her lips, "I know."

He took her hand and they walked over to the edge of the lake. He dove in yet again, still gracefully yet not as eloquent as before, and Zelda sat on the edge, sticking her legs in before hopping in all together, treading the water beneath her. The water felt just as cold and treacherous as before, her muscles protesting against the frigid conditions immediately. Together, they swam across the lake towards the outcrop of luminous stones, glowing gently against the surface of the water. Zelda was already exhausted as they reached the stones, panting slightly in the cool damp air.

She hadn't noticed it before, but it seemed that there were luminous stones under the water. Their glow rippled up to the very top of the surface, shining from deep below. Something about their placement seemed intentional.

Link looked towards her, an unreadable look on his face, "Deep breath, okay? We might have a long way to go."

Zelda nodded twice, before grabbing Link's hand, begging herself to find just a little more courage within herself.

"One, two, and… three."

Zelda breathed in the cool, damp underground air, and dove down into the depths of the lake with her knight.

Zelda opened her eyes under the water, taking in the view of the luminous stones, leading them down and down. As Link had said, an underwater cave appeared in front of them, speckled with luminous stones. They dove forward, into the cave, into the abyss, and swam, their legs kicking, and their arms stroking, except the two between them, which were locked together in a firm embrace, not to be lost from each other. Once inside the cave, the stones appeared all around them. Zelda would have gasped, had she not been underwater. They shone gently, casting light and shadows in every direction. Zelda had to wonder briefly if luminous stones ever lost their light, should they not be tampered with.

They continued onward, noticing that the cave was getting narrower, the stones more seldom. Or perhaps it was that they were running out of oxygen, their vision narrowing and darkening. Zelda knew for a fact that the spots on her vision were not an effect of the cave, her lungs burning with the need to fill them with oxygen. More than once did she feel adrenaline spur her on, and she knew without a doubt that without it she would be at the bottom of the lake.

Finally, the cave opened up wide into another dark underground lake, and Link tugged on her arm and helped to swim them up and out. This lake seemed to be much larger than the lake they had fallen into before, and Zelda could not be sure which way was up or down, left or right, as the water was dark and black all around her, with nothing but the feeling of Link's hand tightly grasping hers, pulling her up and up and out until –

They finally breached the surface of the water, both audibly gasping for breath and sputtering, as they felt their fingers and toes tingle, their bodies finally receiving that much needed air. They looked around, noticing another rocky outcropping over towards the opposite side of the underground lake, but this time, it was accompanied by the tell tale signs of a cave, leading up and out of the underground lake. Beside it, under the glow of various luminous stones, stood a small chest, and they both felt a leap of energy as they swam towards it, their movements desperate and deprived.

They hit the outcropping once again and Zelda fell onto her back, breathing hard. Link, likewise, fell onto his stomach, his head turned to the side, breathing desperately in the cool ancient cavern. They laid there for a couple of seconds, gathering their bearings, before they both began to shake near violently from the cold. Link was the first to get up, moving to his hands and knees before moving to his feet, all but hoisting Zelda up from her spot on the ground. They were both soaked to the bone, dripping, with their hair matted against their scalps.

"We need to get back to camp," Link croaked, his throat feeling sore and rough as he spoke.

"Link, we made it," Zelda gasped, her arms wrapping around his shoulders leaning most of her weight into it. Link staggered, holding her up, before setting her back onto her feet. Her eyes had a glassy look to them, and it made him nervous.

"We're not there yet," he grunted, turning away briefly towards the chest.

Link leaned down to the chest to open it, grabbing the key with no fanfare or pomp and stowed it in his pocket, before reaching towards Zelda, pulling her to him. Her skin was cold, goose bumps visible in the cool green light. He was in a similar state, and holding onto each other, they trotted onward, towards the cave and up the decayed stairs, most of which were destroyed beyond repair. It resembled more of a ramp anyways, not that it mattered much, but they had to be careful of loose rocks in the foundation, their movements clumsy and their coordination faltering.

It took much too long, but they finally made their way back to the center lobby of the city. This time, though, it was not a stone in the floor that gave way to them, but rather one in the wall of the second floor, perpendicular to the wall with the master lock.

They all but stumbled down the stairs, reaching their camp from the night before. He thanked Hylia and all of the goddesses for whatever had possessed him to leave their sleeping mats and packs back at their camp. He could not imagine what would have happened had they had to go through that trial with all of their gear strapped to their backs. It was a wonder they had made it with both of their weapons.

He sat Zelda down next to the remnants of their campfire. He debated briefly whether they needed dry clothes first or a fire made, before Zelda shivered violently and his decision was made for him. He ran over to their packs, pulling out their spare sets of clothes before going back over towards her. He hadn't realized before, but her skin was pale, glowing a sickly green in the light of the luminous stones. He knew vaguely in the back of his mind that he was succumbing to the effects of the cold as well, but his need to make sure that Zelda was taken care of well outweighed that.

"Zel, we need to get you out of those clothes," Link said, watching her struggle to get a grip on her soaked, heavy clothing. Her fingers struggled to grasp the material, slipping free, as her grip was not strong enough.

"I can't," she whispered, her voice stuttering thorough the letters.

Without preamble, Link all but ripped her tunic from Hateno Village off of her, pulling her arms out through the holes, and then tossing the material aside in a flopping mess. He went ahead and shimmied a thick, wool tunic over her head, before placing her Champion's tunic over that for good measure. He went towards her pants, and nearly hesitated before a violent shiver shook him out of whatever propriety-sodden notion he was worried about, and wrenched her pants down to her ankles, throwing her boots off with the pants, before tugging a pair of dry riding pants on over her legs. He grabbed her blanket and tossed it over her shoulders, before grabbing a piece of flint in his next motion, lighting their campfire in soft embers, growing into a soft fire.

He then took to himself, ripping the dripping articles of clothing off of his back and legs, and tossing them back towards his pack. He donned his Snowquill tunic and trousers, the material practically burning against his freezing legs. He moved his hair out of his face, feeling the cold water dripping down his back, before looking back towards Zelda. Even in dry clothes, a blanket, and a fire blazing, she was still shivering, her eyes glassy against the flames.

Link strode over towards her in two steps and collapsed next to her, taking her in his lap and wrapping his arms around her shivering form. He tucked her head under his chin, shivering with her, desperately trying to gain heat from the fire. They sat like that for a long while after, shivering less and less as the time went on, before passing out collectively in the heat of the campfire, the glow from the luminous lights above them mocking them.


	15. Chapter 15

Malice

By: dontwaitupxx

* * *

Chapter Fifteen

* * *

When Zelda finally came to, she was disoriented. The air was musty, and her muscles ached in a way that she had not felt for over a century. The light behind her eyes glowed a faint green, and she was wrapped in something warm, feeling a heartbeat nearby that was in sync with hers.

Gingerly, she opened her eyes, and found herself back at their camp in the heart of the ancient Zonai city. The fire that had been lit from the night before had long since burnt out; its embers had extinguished long before, in the early hours of the morning. Around her lay her blanket, and around that was Link, holding her tightly against his chest, even in the depths of sleep. He was sitting up with her in his lap, her head still tucked under his chin, his breathing deep and even as he slept.

She felt groggy, like she had been a sleep for a long while: much longer than she normally would have. How long had they been asleep? In the depths of Hyrule, it was impossible to say, having no track of the sun or of time. She leaned back slightly, taking in Link's face, and noticing the way that his hair was still plastered to his face in places, where it had dried after that second trial. She reckoned that her hair was probably in a similar state, but it was the least of her worries.

Carefully, she tried to pry herself out of Link's arms and onto her feet. Naturally, Link stirred at that, his eyes opening, glazed and unfocused, before taking her in, his eyes sharpening on her instantaneously.

"Careful," Link muttered, his eyes closing slightly as Zelda lifted herself off of him, stumbling forward slightly before catching herself.

"Sorry," she said, looking back towards him. He was stretching out the kinks in his back, wincing slightly as he did so. She noticed vaguely that he had a few more scratches on him than she remembered, ranging from his cheeks to his arms, and then down his legs.

He noticed her noticing them and shrugged, "From the luminous stones in the last trial," he said, "from when we were swimming through the underground tunnel, some of the stones were closer than I thought, and most weren't as dull as I'd hoped."

She looked down at her arms, carefully noticing that she was covered from head to toe in warm clothing, with her Champion's Tunic above that. She ran her hands through her short, blonde hair, noticing that though it was tangled and matted together, it was a simple enough fix. Looking behind her, she saw Link moving about with careful, stiff movements, rolling the sleeping mats back up and taking out a parcel of food for breakfast; if she could call it breakfast. She was certain that their concept of time was all but compromised from their time down in the caverns. It may as well be the middle of the night. Perhaps it was actually dinnertime. Their internal clocks would need to be readjusted back to the outside world once they got out of this mess.

She sat down next to Link, grabbing a rice roll from the plate and plopping it in her mouth in one bite. The first and second doors were still open, and she could see the fog threatening to seep in from the first door, though it never made its way into the lobby, like some unknown force was blocking it. She could her the treacherous sound of water rushing from the second door. The third door to their right mocked them ominously, its door beckoning them closer. She shuddered.

"I still can't believe we did that," Zelda breathed, "That was an impossible task."

"But we did it," Link grunted, standing up, "and there is still one more trial ahead of us."

"What do you think we will find in the third trial?" Zelda asked.

"I'm not sure," Link responded, his eyes meeting hers, "but I was thinking…"

"You were thinking?" Zelda half joked, elbowing him slightly in the ribs. He seemed to wince at that, which gave Zelda cause for concern.

"…I was thinking you should stay back, and I'll go on ahead to the third trial alone."

"What?" Zelda was taken aback, "What do you mean?"

"Zelda, I nearly lost you in the maze of the first trial, and we could have nearly died in the second trial," Link said, softly, "We don't know what the third trial could bring, but I can't risk losing you to it, especially if I don't have to."

"But Link –"

"The trials have been getting more and more intense," Link explained, "Though we can't perceive a pattern on just two trials, I would rather not take that chance. The first trial messed with our minds, the second with our stamina and endurance, we don't know what the third trial will bring."

"Link," Zelda protested, "We came here together, to do this _together_. I'm not just going to sit by and wait for you to return. What happens if you don't return? What do I do then?"

"I'll be fine, Zel; besides, I have a pretty strong track record of surviving."

"You forget the fact that you died once, Link."

"And then I came back!"

"Thanks to the ancient Sheikah technology! And after one hundred years of sleeping!"

"I can't risk you getting hurt."

"And I can't let you go alone."

At this point, they were nose to nose with each other, their protests echoing loudly across the chamber in the ancient Zonai city. Zelda took his hand, rubbing her thumb across the back of it slightly.

"Whatever is lurking behind door number three is going to have to go through both of us," Zelda said, a small smile on her face, "We do this together."

"Just promise me something," Link said, softly, "Promise me that if things get bad, that you'll save yourself and run."

"Where would I run to?" Zelda asked, "Our only way out is the deep hole that we paraglided down into from the Forgotten Temple."

"Up through to the castle, maybe," Link said, "Impa said that the path had been destroyed from the castle one hundred years ago when the calamity emerged, but there has to be another way, I'm sure. One way or another; just promise me, please."

Zelda sighed, tilting her head up to look at the ceiling, shaking her head slightly at this impossible man, "I promise."

"Okay," Link said, kissing the top of her forehead lightly, "Then we haven't a moment to lose. We finish this together."

They approached the third door on the right hand side, its door looking heavy and weighted with something magnificent. They stood together, with the world on their shoulders and the weight of the two keys in Link's pocket heavy. Link breathed in the musty, ancient catacomb air and sighed, reaching towards the third door and opening it. This door, much like the first two, groaned and creaked as it opened, a fine puff of dust erupting from the floor as the door moved for the first time in a millennia. This time though, as the door opened, they were met not with a dark corridor like in the first and second trial, but an open room, with speckles of luminous stones littering the ceiling and the walls, casting green shadows across the room. It was not enough light to be able to see anything in particular, but it helped to define the shape of the room. They stepped fully into the room, wondering what this next trial would entail.

As they took one final step forward, the floor beneath them shifted, and the door behind them back into the lobby slammed shut, its thud resonating loudly into the large room. Instantly, Link grabbed Zelda's hand tightly, lest he lost her again. The room was pitch black around them, save for the minuscule luminous stones in the space. Link reached behind him and pulled out a torch and ignited it blindly with a piece of flint. A fire erupted onto the torch, but the flames did not produce the amount of light required. It lit the immediate area around them, but only that; the light being prevented from traveling further due to a dark unknown sort of magic.

It reminded Link of the Thyphlo Ruins, Zonai in design, directly north of the Korok Forest. They wouldn't be able to rely entirely on their torch and its light; they would have to be resourceful in other ways.

"Zelda, whatever you do, do not let go," Link whispered, as though the walls could hear him.

"What are we supposed to do?" Zelda asked, her grip tightening on his.

"I think we are about to find out," Link grunted, taking a step forward with the torch, the light disappearing from behind them.

There were various lamps throughout the cavern, and Link would light those, creating a path of where they had been. The light from the lamps did not travel far though; only about a meter in each direction, and from far away, it seemed to only be a small spot of light, hardly noticeable.

There were various structures about the room, some with architecture that was distinctly Zonai in design, but others had hints of Hylian architecture in the structure, which was odd. They had seen Hylian influences in the path leading up to Hyrule Castle, but that made sense, as the two connected to each other there. However, this was deep within the ancient Zonai city. Why was there Hylian influence this deep within the ruin? And why was it intermingled with the Zonai designs?

They turned a corner around one of the structures, and knew instinctually that they were facing the very center of the room, though it was not possible to tell visually. There was something rumbling from the center, something ancient and deadly and all together not familiar. Carefully, they walked forward, their footsteps silent, gingerly stepping to make sure they didn't walk into any structures. Link's grip on Zelda's hand tightened exponentially each second, to a point where it nearly grew uncomfortable for Zelda. They continued onward, until they were very nearly in the center of the room.

They paused, looking around the room, their eyes desperately trying to make out anything in the room to give them a clue as to what to do. The flames from the torch in Link's hand flickered outward, trying to reach outwards as it may, but being blocked by the impenetrable shadows surrounding them. Against the shadows of the light, Zelda could have sworn she saw something moving, slowly rising up and down, like gentle exhalations in time with the ancient rumbling. She squinted, trying to make out a shape.

Three large eyes opened in front of them, the whites of the eyes glowing bright in the dark of the cavern.

She gasped, stumbling backwards with Link, being pushed back slightly by his arm as he instinctually grabbed for the Master Sword. The creature began to rise in the catacomb, having been woken from its long and ancient sleep. Zelda couldn't even begin to guess as to what the creature was. The creature was large, larger than a Hinox, as it rose to its feet, its glowing three eyes growing higher and higher, until the creature towered over them spectacularly. In the darkness, the Master Sword glowed a dull blue, having recognized the ancient, evil power within this creature.

The monster roared, the walls shaking around them, luminous stones falling from the walls and ceiling. The monster heaved backwards, the air shifting around her, and she had only a second to realize what it was doing before she was knocked to the side by Link, skidding on the stone floor away from the monster. A second later, she felt the earth tremble and shake as the monster jumped on the space they had been a second prior. She was lifted onto her feet and the torch was thrust into her hands.

"Zelda," Link's voice was in her ear, "Take cover behind one of the structures. Don't let him see you."

Before she could protest, she was knocked away, pushed behind a structure out of sight, and then Link was gone, out of range from her torch. All she could see was the monster's eyes; she couldn't even see the faint glow of the Master Sword.

She could hear the beginnings of the fight, the sounds of the Master Sword slashing and of the monster groaning and growling. She looked out from behind the structure, desperate to see something, anything, and saw the monster's eyes much closer to her than she had anticipated. It was fixated on her, on the light, and was moving towards her at an alarming rate.

She dove out from behind the structure, mere seconds before the monster crashed down on it, vaporizing the structure in seconds, where it was naught but a pile of dust. She ran aimlessly through the cavern, nearly colliding head first into the structures, as she could not see them until she was directly in front of them.

She ducked down behind another structure, holding the torch close to her, and hearing the sounds of fighting from across the room. The monster was on the move, though; heavy footsteps crashing down against the ground, shaking the ground, moving the ground, and they grew heavier and heavier, coming closer and closer, until the ground shook so bad she jumped along with it.

She leapt from her spot on the ground and ran, losing her balance as the monster collapsed down on that structure as well, the structure beneath it turning to mere pebbles. She wasn't sure how long she could keep running from the monster. It kept finding her in the darkness, and targeting her: it wasn't targeting Link.

She stared at her hand holding the torch. She was giving it a target.

She threw the torch on the ground and stomped it out, extinguishing the flames. She was engulfed in darkness all around her, save for the luminous stones dotting the walls. She ran off, careful of any walls or structures that she could have run into.

Looking behind her, she saw that the monster was no longer following her. Instead, the three glowing eyes were moving back towards the center of the room, where she could hear the sounds of footsteps running and of the Master Sword slashing. Now, she could only see the stones and the three eyes, blinking slowly in each direction.

She got an idea.

Swiftly, she pulled out her Sheikah bow and nocked a fire arrow onto the string. She crouched and took aim, aiming for the center of the three eyes. She let loose the fire arrow, its flames flying through the air silently, casting shadows around its small radius, before the arrow landed home in the center of the monster's three eyes, landing with a resolute ping.

The monster shrieked, falling down and flailing, and Zelda could hear the Master Sword slashing and slicing through the monster, a flurry of attacks she could hardly comprehend. Before she knew it, the monster stood up again, its eyes glowing against the dark shadows, and she nocked another arrow, aiming once again for the center of the three eyes. This arrow landed true as well, and the monster screamed, clawing at its eyes.

This time, however, when the monster opened its eyes, the three grotesque eyes glowed a bright green, similar to the luminous stones, and when they landed on her, they narrowed, the monster moving towards her at an impossible speed.

She had to run.

Her Sheikah bow in hand, she gripped it tightly as she ran, diving out of the way as what she could have only guessed was a claw swung at her, the air around her moving, billowing her hair. She nocked an arrow quickly, only to abandon it as she realized the monster was close – much too close – for comfort. She dove away again, as the monster collapsed on the floor she was on, the floor caving inward, threatening to collapse.

She ran onward, keeping a close eye on the monster, before colliding with Link head on – only realizing it from seeing the Master Sword gripped low in his hand half a second before collision.

They both fell backward, groaning in unison, before hearing the heavy footsteps of the monster getting nearer. They stood up, Master Sword and Sheikah bow in hand as the monster grew closer, its three eyes glowing a sickly green in the darkness, narrowing in on them and calculating.

Zelda's bow was nocked before she realized it, and the fire arrow was flying in the next second, landing on the right of the three eyes. The monster screamed, falling backwards and Link disappeared from her side, the Master Sword swinging and landing home in the beast. Zelda let out a barrage of arrows, conscious of where Link was even in the darkness, and finally, they heard the monster roar in finality, the monster's three eyes fading from a glowing green to a bright white, to a dull grey to darkness, collapsing on the stone floor for good.

As though a curse had been broken, the light from the luminous stones glowed brighter than before and cut through the darkness, and the lamps that had been lit prior to the fight glowed outward, bathing the corridor in a warm glow. The door to the lobby slowly opened, the door groaning against the stonework, the green glow from the lobby leaking into the room gently.

Link sheathed the Master Sword, and quickly grasped Zelda, taking her into his arms, holding the back of her head. Zelda leaned back slightly, looking at his face.

"Are you hurt?" Zelda asked, her eyes imploring, searching his face.

"Nothing I can't handle," Link replied, "Only a couple of scrapes from diving onto the floor. Are you okay?"

"I'm okay now," Zelda said, rubbing his arm and stepping out of his embrace, "What was that thing?"

"I'm not sure," Link said, "It was like nothing I've ever fought before."

They moved towards the center of the room, where the corpse of the monster lay. It most closely resembled a Hinox, except it had three eyes, was covered in scales, and was four times its closest relative's size. The monster lay with various cuts and lacerations, but the most prominent wounds were from his eyes, which were blackened around the edges, burnt from the fire arrows. The most concerning thing, however, was that each of the wounds oozed a sort of malice, hot and burning, slick and oozing, but it was different than the malice inflicted from the Calamity Ganon. This malice was more languid, more billowy, seemed to be more gaseous than liquid. The stench from it was far viler than before, and Zelda found herself growing nauseous from it.

In the far corner of the room lay a small chest, black in design and invisible in the darkness. Zelda and Link made their way towards it, reaching down to open it. Inside was unsurprisingly the third key, but upon holding it in their hands, the pit in their stomachs grew even deeper.

This was it.

They had all three keys. Suddenly, the weight of the world seemed to be greater on their shoulders, the walls around them closed even tighter around them. There was now nothing between them and whatever lay behind the master lock in the main lobby. They had all three keys. It was time to face this.

They stepped out of the third trial and back into the lobby of the main room, gathering their things from their camp.

"Zel," Link started, looking almost nervous, "We don't have to do this right now. We can wait a little bit."

"Link," Zelda looked at him, "It's unlike you to be nervous before something."

"Are you not?" He asked.

"No," she replied, with a slight quiver, "Of course I am. But there's no time like the present," She paused, the smile fading slightly from her face, as she thought back to the underground lake, "Link, do you remember in the last trial, before we swam through the underground tunnel to the other side? I didn't get a chance to tell you what I wanted to say, in case we didn't make it out of there."

"Zelda, we can always talk about it after –"

"Link, I love you."

The silence was deafening, save for the sound of their breaths and their heartbeats pounding.

"Zelda," Link started, "I –"

"I've known for one hundred years that I've loved you, but I've never had a place or time where I was permitted to. But now, in light of everything that has happened, in light of what has yet to come, I need it to be said," Zelda's hand left his to trail up his chest to his face, onto his cheek, "I love you."

His lips met hers softly, a ghost of the searing kiss from deep underground in the lake, "I know you do," his forehead rested against hers, his eyes closed against the world.

"You won't say it back," Zelda murmured, the sorrow from the realization bleeding out into her voice.

"No, no, it's not that," Link whispered, his forehead still against hers, "It's something else; it's that I keep losing the people that I love. I promise once all of this is over we'll talk about it later and I'll explain. But right now, I'm terrified that if I say it, it will be the last time I get the chance to."

"There's no time like the present," Zelda echoed.

Link looked into her eyes imploringly, and upon seeing the love and tender adoration from her eyes, he crashed his lips onto hers, bringing her into him. She melted into his arms, holding onto dear life, cherishing every single moment with her knight as though it was going to be her last.

His lips trailed up towards her forehead, and he sighed, tucking her head under his chin.

"I love you too."

They were simple, yet brave words, from a scared and terrified knight. He knew that he might not be able to protect her from whatever lied beyond that door, and the thought of not being enough shook him to his very core.

They had been preparing their entire lives for this moment. Quietly, they made their way up to the second floor landing of the lobby of the ancient Zonai city. They faced the door to the final room, the Tri-Force etched onto the door staring back at them. Absentmindedly, Zelda looked down to their hands and saw that the Tri-Force on their hands were now glowing brighter than before, when they had first entered the city.

Link reached into his pocket and took out the first two keys. He placed them into the lock, turning them until they caught. He did this for all three, and on the final key, the lock fell apart, landing on the floor of the ancient Zonai city with a loud thud, its sound resonating like a gong: a warning.

The door creaked as it opened, a threat foreboding, not to be mistaken. From the lobby, light poured into the dark corridor, though they could not see what lay beyond the door. The door opened all of the way and settled with a final thud: a last call, if you will.

The hero and the princess looked at each other then, the same question in each of their eyes yet finding the same answer in the others. They were ready. Every moment of the past one hundred years had prepared them for this moment. From the fortune teller predicting the return of the Calamity Ganon, to Link pulling the Master Sword, from being appointed as Zelda's knight, to that final fateful day in the Blatchery Plain, from waking in the Shrine of Resurrection and freeing the Divine Beasts, to defeating Calamity Ganon on the Hyrule Fields: it was time.

They stepped into the final room of the ancient Zonai city.


	16. Chapter 16

Malice

By: dontwaitupxx

* * *

Chapter Sixteen

* * *

Link held Zelda's hand tightly as they stepped into the shadows of the final chamber of the ancient Zonai city. Around them, the shadows seemed to squeeze and suffocate them, creating a vacuum of condensed space. They pressed onward, the shadows pressing on them menacingly, the light from the torch in Zelda's hand flickering aimlessly throughout the chamber.

From up ahead, streams of that same gaseous malice oozed towards them, billowing as it went. The malice spread in streams, and they were careful to walk free of the malice. The malice had a stench much like it had in the third trial, and their noses crinkled from the stench of it. The malice was stronger here, far more concentrated here at its core.

They were in a cavernous chamber, and seemed to be a cross between ancient Zonai architecture and something more primitive. From up ahead, something was glowing in the distance, a sickly green: unnatural, in the way that it ebbed and flowed, its magic swirling upwards into a spiral, hitting a sort of mechanism.

Zelda squinted her eyes further, trying to make out what it was –

She gasped, squeezing Link's hand. Link seemed to realize it at the same time.

"There," Zelda whispered, "That's him. That's Ganon."

There was no doubt about it. She had fought the Calamity Ganon for one hundred years within Hyrule Castle, and she felt the same presence coming from the center of the room. The presence, however, was not simply that of malice incarnate, but was the source of its creation. The corpse was bent over backwards, its skin cracking and thin, its mouth open in an eternal scream. The gaseous malice was seeping and oozing from a gaping hole in its center.

"This is some sort of burial chamber, isn't it?" Link asked, his eyes darting around the chamber.

"Perhaps," Zelda murmured, her hand letting go of Link's, "Though I can't help but notice, from the way the pillars are all pointed inwards, and that mechanism on the ceiling…"

"Zel, what is it?"

She paused, looking at him in the eyes, "It looks to be more of a prison cell than a burial chamber."

From the gaping wound in the corpse was an ethereal glowing green hand, similar in color and glow to the luminous stones. It was bony, almost translucent, and its long, languid fingers were firm. Up the arm was encased in a sort of armor, geometric and zigzag in design. It clutched at the gaping wound on the corpse, as though it was trying, unsuccessfully at that, to halt the malice. Link and Zelda both stared at the green sinewy fingers, and though they hadn't seen it before in this life, they knew that they had seen it before. From it, the spiral glowing green magic spun, upwards towards the mechanism on the ceiling. As the magic spun, it seemed to almost create words and letters in the air, but before either of them could decipher what the words or letters said, they had disappeared, dissolving into the spiral once again. Time seemed suspended in this moment, Zelda noticed.

They could tell, however, that the magic was growing weaker. A menacing pulse could be felt from the corpse meters away, growing stronger each second.

"Link," she paused, pointing up towards the mechanism on the ceiling, "Do you see how that malice is frozen in a straight line upwards towards the ceiling, whereas the rest is oozing from the center?" Link nodded, "It seems strange that some would be suspended while some would not."

They approached the shrine, taking careful, calculated steps as they went. Zelda looked down at their hands, and noticed as they approached the center of the shrine, the Tri-Force on their hands glowed brightly, almost emitting their own form of light from it.

The malice was denser the closer it was to the corpse, as it oozed out of the wound at its center in a gaseous form. The air around them grew thicker and sticky, nearly suffocating. Zelda took one step forward, reaching out with her hand, the Tri-Force glowing extraordinarily.

The air stilled. The malice burned.

And a Tri-Force, much like their own, flickered to life on the corpse's right hand. It flickered erratically, before glowing brighter than Link's and hers combined.

Something changed in the air, like a threat coming alive. It was something more sinister than either of them could have imagined, something more ancient and evil than anything Hyrule had seen in thousands of years. Unsure of what to do, Zelda began to back up, creating distance between herself and the corpse.

She heard a resonating crack.

And the corpse's neck had snapped towards her. The hallowed holes of Ganon's skull glowed to life with malice, evil and sinister and very much alive.

Zelda did not even have time to scream.

Ganon's right hand curled into a fist, and the room shook violently. The floor beneath Zelda crumbled, sending Zelda down into the dark, endless abyss.

"Zelda!"

Link leaped after her, sliding head first towards her, his arms outstretched, reaching for her. He grasped her wrist in one hand, and reached up with the other blindly, scrambling for purchase on the decayed and destroyed stonework. His hand gripped it tightly, but he could feel the stonework begin to come loose, turning to gravel in his hand. His fingers strained fruitlessly against the stonework, their legs dangling in the dark, endless abyss. He dared not look down, lest he lose his grip and fall.

He wasn't sure if he would be able to pull them up, and he couldn't think of a way to save her.

"Link –" Zelda gasped, clutching at his arm desperately, her eyes pleading.

"I know," Link grunted, his arm and shoulder burning, "I won't let you go."

The ledge he was holding onto was beginning to rumble, the air vibrating around them, sending tremors down their arms. His fingers began to slip, one by one, until he was only holding on by two fingers, the knuckles burning as they were stretched beyond their limits.

A final shake in the air, and his fingers were dislodged, and for a moment, they were falling.

Until they weren't.

Suddenly, the skeletal hand that had been holding Ganon in place and at bay was in Link's line of vision, grabbing at his arm and ceasing their fall. Ethereal, skeletal fingers clutched at his forearm in a firm grip, and Link felt his shoulder pop slightly at the force of his stop. He gripped Zelda's wrist tightly, feeling the momentum pull at their hold.

He felt the skeletal arm pull them up and out of the dark, endless abyss, and were deposited back on the stone floor of the ancient Zonai city.

However, something wasn't right.

Link's arm was burning, and rather than the ancient skeletal arm letting go, it began to disintegrate, being absorbed into his skin. The magic swirled around his arm, encasing each one of his fingertips and gliding up his right arm entirely, the magic burning and scorching in its wake.

He cried out, and was temporarily blinded by a white light. For but a moment, the pain ceased, and gingerly, he opened his eyes.

He knew instantly that he was not viewing his present, his Hyrule. He was in the same chamber of the ancient Zonai city, but there was something about it that did not seem so ancient any longer. The vision was fuzzy around the edges, and it was difficult to focus, but Link could make out what looked to be an elite team of what he knew to be the ancient Zonai, though he had never before seen them in his life.

Ahead of them, a young man, who was identified clearly by the telltale sword strapped to his back, led them. Link could feel that very same sword hum silently on his back. Next to the young man, was a woman: the Princess, no doubt, as she was the spitting image of the Zelda that he knew in his life.

The army was facing an entity, which stood on the raised platform in the chamber. This was a Gerudo man, nearly seven feet tall in height, and he stood with his legs apart in a powerful stance, his arms at his side. Most peculiar was a gaping wound from his abdomen, which leaked a red substance, which Link realized most would mistake as blood.

Link felt a chill go up his spine as he realized he was seeing a vision from an age long past. The Gerudo man he was looking at was undeniably Ganon.

Ganon was laughing, his chest heaving with each chuckle, "You fools," he seethed, "You thought that your plan would work? You thought you could try and corner me here in the depths of Hyrule, to eradicate me once and for all? All you have done is sealed your fate. This is the end of the line for you. You will never leave this room alive."

"What makes you think you've won?" The hero countered, a smile creeping into his voice. His voice was higher than Link had expected. Perhaps he was younger? "On the contrary, we have _you _exactly where we want. This room is directly beneath the sanctum of Hyrule Castle. It is beneath the place most blessed by the Goddess. Your power is at its weakest here. Give up, Ganon; when are you going to understand that you will never win?"

"That's just the thing, isn't it?" Ganon smirked, "You and I, we see winning and loss very differently. Perhaps you think you have won time and time again, but let me ask you this: how can you win if I have never lost?"

"How do you mean?" The princess questioned, her voice a gentle cadence.

"You keep _winning _and you keep _defeating me, _but how can that be if I keep coming _back?_" Ganon's eyes glowed bright red, as he took a step forward, "Never once am I truly defeated, never once have I not been reincarnated, time and time again. I've never once been defeated, for which you will never be rid of me. But what would it take for me to defeat you? Not much, I assure you. You Hylians are such breakable things. All it takes is one small thing: a slash from a sword, a gash from a claymore. Every time we meet, it takes an unspeakable amount of energy to take me down, but you? I could snap you in half so easily."

"Then why haven't you?" The hero countered, "If we are such breakable things, then why haven't you done away with us?"

"You've been lucky, and you've always held two pieces of the Tri-Force. You have always had an advantage over me. But I promise you: your luck will run out, and the end of you lives will be much colder and sinister than you can imagine."

"Zelda, now!"

Chaos erupted in the chamber beneath Hyrule Castle, as the Zonai circled around Ganon, creating a barrier. The princess and the hero banded together, and they combined the princess sealing powers with the Blade of Evil's Bane. This created a cylinder of light that cascaded across the chamber and hit Ganon squarely in the chest, sending him flying backwards from the force of the hit. Before hitting the wall of the chamber, however, Ganon's momentum ceased, and he levitated off of the ground midflight, his feet landing on the ground firmly.

Around him, the Zonai warriors cast a sort of spell, green, swirling magic emitting from the fingertips and encasing Ganon in a sort of vice grip. They tugged backwards together, tightening their hold on Ganon. He struggled for a moment, before the swirling spell seemed to disintegrate around him, with a flick of his hands, he sent the Zonai warriors flying, and with another flick, a ball of oozing malice materialized in his hand.

Link, on looking as he was, was all too familiar with that substance. The hero of that time, though, would have no idea what that malice was.

"What is that?" The hero asked, gesturing towards the ball of oozing material.

"Oh this?" Ganon asked, "This is something that I have been creating since the beginning of time, the beginning of our rivalry, the beginning of everything. This is hatred incarnate: it is every evil thought, every evil act, every evil intention and moment and possibility, real and not real. It is my gift to you, dear hero, and something that will rampage across the land, destroying everything and everyone in its path. It will set a new era, an era of terror and power: an era of a sheer calamity. With this malice, I will obtain the Tri-Force, and all of Hyrule will bow before my power."

He paused, a sinister grin growing on his face.

"In fact, let's go ahead and take a look at that now."

It happened so quickly that Link almost didn't catch it. Ganon threw the ball of malice towards the hero and the princess, and neither of them had enough time to react. The ball of malice hit the princess directly in the chest, sending her careening backwards, the malice burning through her clothes, her skin, her bones. Link could hear the hero screaming, but the ringing in his ears masked it. He felt the princess fall, felt her ache and her burn. Though it was not _his_ princess that fell, he could feel the emotions and the terror running through the hero with acute awareness.

The hero was kneeling next to his princess, his words incoherent in her ear, as the malice spread and oozed and burned. The hero glared upward at Ganon, tears streaming down his face, his eyes glistening, as Ganon moved forward towards them, his laugh maniacal.

Ganon flicked his hand once more, another ball of malice materializing in his hand.

"Any last words, hero?" Ganon whispered, the malice swirling in his hand.

The hero's face dropped, before tilting his head back down to look at his beloved. The princess was slowly dying, her breaths growing labored and shallow. It wouldn't be much longer, then, before her time was up in their world.

"We'll be back," the hero whispered, the ghost of a smile on his face.

"Not if I can –"

Ganon's body then froze mid-sentence, before it contorted grotesquely and he growled, his eyes glowing bright red.

"What is the meaning of this?" He roared, the walls shaking.

Link looked up and followed the hero's line of sight. From behind Ganon was an animate glowing green hand, the same one he had seen in the chamber in his time, swirling in power and magic. It moved in a grotesque fashion, and Link saw that it was controlling Ganon like a puppet, his body contorting with similar movements with the hand.

Only then did Link grasp that the ancient Zonai warriors were missing entirely from the chamber.

With a sickening lurch, the realization fell on Link that the ancient Zonai warriors _were _this magical hand, having put their power together to create new spell, or curse, if you will: one that would capture Ganon and keep him at bay.

Ganon struggled against his confines but to no avail. The hand dragged him remotely, up the steps to the platform in the center of the room. With a flick of its hand, stone spikes erupted from the chamber, facing inward towards the Demon King.

In a final struggle, Ganon roared, and a spiral of malice erupted from his chest, towards the ceiling of the chamber. The Zonai hand responded immediately, lurching towards his chest and sealing it, its long, sinewy fingers digging deep into his flesh. In a flash of green light, Ganon was frozen in time, with the Zonai magic swirling around him, its spell sealing him in time.

Despite all of this, minute amounts of malice seeped from his gaping wound in his abdomen, defying the fabric of time and pouring into the world at a slow and steady pace.

The power of the Zonai warriors would not last forever, but it would hold off Ganon's power for an age.

Link saw the hero bow quickly to the Zonai warriors, who had sacrificed their lives to seal Ganon in a time suspension. They had thought not of themselves, but of all of Hyrule in that moment. Link watched as the hero scooped up the dying princess in his arms and sprinted from the Zonai city.

Link then, was lurched up and out of the ancient Zonai city, and saw the tens of thousands of years flash before his eyes.

All of this took place long before the very first calamity, which had taken place ten thousand years prior. The Zonai warriors, as clever and selfless as they were, had been able to stop the immediate threat, albeit they were not able to completely destroy it.

However, that did not mean that all destruction and hatred was gone for good.

The malice that seeped from Ganon's body would pool and congregate over thousands of years, and upon the apex of its power, would rise from beneath Hyrule Castle, creating the calamity that ravaged the lands ten thousand years ago, and that had ravaged it a century ago. Both instances had not been Ganon's true form, but rather his hatred incarnate. It was a form that took on his appearance and his anger, but by defeating them, they were not defeating it at its core; they had not been destroying the source of the hatred.

A bright white light flashed before his eyes, and he was back in the crypts of the ancient Zonai city, cradling his burning arm, his eyes blurry. From in front of him, Link saw the outline of a person, shaking him, screaming at him.

It was his Zelda.

"Link, we have to move, _get up!"  
_

Link finally came to his senses and staggered to his feet, Zelda moving to take them back the way they came. However, billowing, gaseous malice, its tendrils like fingers wagging, inched closer and closer to them, blocking their way.

They were trapped, with no place left to run, no alternative plan, and no Zonai warrior to sacrifice themselves for the greater good.

Ganon laughed, his body dry and stiff, his decaying body moving unnaturally.

"Now then…" he drawled, his voice like sandpaper, "Let's finish what we started then, shall we?"

Malice erupted from its center, billowing upwards and exploding in a puff of gas at the top of the shrine, hot and burning, slick and oozing. It travelled fast, faster than they had ever seen malice travel, quickly engulfing the room in a poisonous, deadly gas.

Zelda clutched Link in her arms, her Goddess given powers engulfing them in a bright, white light, and before she knew what she was doing, they disappeared in a wisp of light, before disappearing altogether.

Not a second later, the malice engulfed the entirety of the room.

* * *

From the Great Plateau, all was at peace. In the aftermath of the Calamity Ganon, the wilds of Hyrule had done well to finish what they had started, engulfing the destroyed and decaying structures of a time long past. The Temple of Time was naught but a few walls and an eradicated roof. The only thing that had withstood the test of time and nature was the Goddess Statue, which shone brilliantly in the midafternoon sun.

The Eastern Abbey, which had previously already been reduced to mere outlines of its former splendor, was now mere rubble, and the guardians which had lied there dormant for so long were now engulfed in moss and wild grasses, and only if you squinted, would you be able to tell where the rubble stopped and the guardian began.

There was a lone, cozy cabin nestled beneath the mountains of Mount Hylia. For a century, it had remained perfectly preserved. It was only a few months prior that the cabin began to deteriorate, after an old man who had lived there for one hundred years had mysteriously vanished.

That being said, could he have mysteriously vanished if there had been no one around to see it?

The wooden walls crumbled away, the roof falling to pieces, and as it does, the wild engulfed this too. No longer did this cabin resemble a cabin: it dissolved into the wild, nothing more than fallen trees and foliage, with a lone Silent Princess thriving in the center.

Mount Hylia rose brilliantly over the River of the Dead and the Forest of Spirits. While the Blood Moon had done well to resurrect all of the agents of Ganon all over Hyrule, the ones on the Great Plateau were of no consequence, minding their own business, as people had not resided on the plateau in over a century.

Yes, all was at peace on the Great Plateau, that midafternoon, as Hyrule drifted closer and closer to winter. Soon, the snow would fall much further down than simply at the peaks of Mount Hylia. It would first cover the plateau, before drifting downward into the mainland of Central Hyrule.

In fact, it looked as if there was a speck of snow falling onto the plateau already, right at the mouth of the Shrine of Resurrection.

Except it wasn't a speck of snow - rather, a hint of a glorious, divine power. It was of two Hylians: more specifically, the Hero that carried the Blade of Evil's Bane and the Princess that carried the blood of the Goddess.

It was curious then, that the only person to have stepped on that land in the better part of that century was one of the two people materializing then.

When the two materialized, they breathed in the cool, Hyrulean air, and sighed, bent over and panting. They had only a moment to collect their bearings, before Hylia's country began to shake and rumble around them. A puff of dust billowed into the air from Hyrule Castle, and the birds scattered from the plains, heading south.

Looking towards Central Hyrule, Hyrule Castle was shaking, and bystanders across the Hyrule Fields and across the country stood in awe and terror. Was the castle collapsing? Was it toppling over? Was another Calamity Ganon shaking its very foundations, threatening to escape?

Well, something like that.

Hyrule Castle began to rise, up and up, and beneath it, rose the ancient Zonai city, with stones tumbling and heaving. The midafternoon sun kissed the ancient walls of the city, which had not seen sunlight in thousands of years, if ever at all. The city swirled with the evil magic of Ganon, the gaseous malice swirling, penetrating and dissolving into the virgin Hylian ground. It tainted the grounds, poisoning the plants, and began to spread at a slow and steady pace.

From the mouth of the Shrine of Resurrection, the two Hylians looked onward in terror, clutching to each other desperately. They were dirty, covered in each other's blood, sweat, and tears, frozen in time, watching as Hyrule Castle finally settled in its new vantage point, now high above the ground.

The Hero, specifically, was clutching at his right arm, his face twisted in agony, but we will get to that later.

From here, the Sanctum of Hyrule Castle could be seen from nearly every settlement across Hyrule. From Kakariko Village to Gerudo Town, from Lurelin Village to Goron City, all of Hyrule quaked in terror at the new threat that engulfed Central Hyrule.

And from Central Hyrule, a booming, ancient voice resonated across all of Hyrule, echoing between the Hebra Mountains and the Dueling Peaks:

"I… will… find… you."

The two Hylians ran for their lives.


	17. Chapter 17

Malice

By: dontwaitupxx

* * *

Chapter Seventeen

* * *

Link and Zelda ran, hand in hand, down the hill from the Shrine of Resurrection, their eyes ever-fixated on Hyrule Castle. Could they still call it that? The Zonai structure beneath it was massive, making Hyrule Castle look miniscule in comparison. Even from their vantage point, they could begin to see small wisps of Malice billowing and oozing from the ancient Zonai city beneath the castle.

The scene seemed familiar to Zelda. Why were they constantly on the run? From one hundred years prior running through the woods near the Bottomless Swamp, to more recently, running up the Hateno hillsides as the Sheikah Towers and Shrines had fallen back into the ground.

The same thought haunted her as it had then: history could not be repeating itself, for it had just been written.

The Great Plateau had always been a relatively safe place, even with Ganon's agents scouring it. As the two of them ran down the hillside – Link first: always Link first – they passed by various red and blue Bokoblins. However, the two Hylians paid them little mind. The Bokoblins would only turn their heads slowly, and before they could realize that two panic stricken Hylians had ran through their quiet land, they were already gone, with naught but the rustling of the wind to prove that the Hylians had even been there.

The bitter wind nipped at their cheeks and bit at their hands, Link's left hand clutching Zelda's right hand as they plowed their way through the trees. Already, Zelda's nose was turning red from the cold, and their Hylian hoods and tunics were not nearly enough to combat the frigid air. Link had his right arm clutched to his chest as they ran, the cold doing well to numb the burning sensation coursing through it.

If he thought about his arm and what had happened, his arm would unconsciously begin to glow a bright green. Thus, he opted not to think about it.

All he thought about, then, was getting Zelda some place safe.

However, was any place in Hyrule safe from Ganon's wrath?

They ran past the remnants of the Temple of Time, which was nothing more than a few walls and bits of roof. It had decayed significantly since Link had awoken in the Shrine of Resurrection months prior. Had they not been looking for it, it would have blended in well with the wild surrounding it.

Hyrule was changing, it seemed. It was changing right before their eyes.

They got closer and closer to the edge of the Great Plateau, where the crumbled remnants of the entrance was. Zelda recalled that this entrance was destroyed during the Guardian's initial attack a century prior, as well as during the Age of Burning Fields. They wouldn't be able to use the grand staircase down to the mainland; however, Link was already one step ahead of her. He had let go of her hand briefly, and was already unfolding and opening up his paraglider.

Dusk had approached very quickly, and already, the night sky was littered with stars. Zelda and Link stumbled a bit as they approached the edge of the Great Plateau, the walls crumbling at the smallest disturbance.

Link looked back at her then for the first time since they took off running, a fearful look in his eyes. Up ahead, Hyrule Castle glowed red, the billowing, and gaseous malice seeping into the countryside, slowly and menacingly.

"Grab onto my back, Zel," Link instructed, the paraglider out in front of him.

Zelda did as she was told wordlessly, jumping onto his back as she had done numerous times days before, like it wasn't still a new thing. Link adjusted her briefly, whispered: "Hold on," and then he leaped.

This jump did not hold the same marvel that the previous two jumps had held. However, looking to her right, Zelda gasped as she saw Farosh, weaving throughout the night sky. It would seem that they had courage on their side.

She would take as much courage as she could get.

The flight was much quicker than the first two, and before she knew it, they had landed in the Gatepost Town ruins, and they ran, as fast as their legs could take them. They ran past all of the monsters that littered the area, paying them no mind, as they were faster than them, their adrenaline spurring them onwards.

At one point, the two of them encountered a Bokoblin on horseback, shooting various fire arrows towards them. In the blink of an eye, Link had his bow out, and had an arrow nocked. With deadly, accurate precision, had hit and knocked the Bokoblin off of its horse. It wasn't enough to kill the monster, but Link wasn't looking to kill; he had an ulterior motive. Link ran, pulling Zelda towards that newly emancipated horse, lifted her onto its back with zero preamble, and then swung himself onto it behind her. He kicked the sides of the horse, sending them into a ferocious gallop.

Without a saddle, Zelda found herself bouncing uncomfortably on the horse. She leaned forward into the horse's mane, and found that Link leaned with her, one hand wrapped securely around her waist, and the other tangled in the horse's mane. They were riding parallel to Hyrule Castle, towards the northeast.

"Where are we going?" Zelda breathed, watching as the red glow of the Blood Moon began to inch treacherously over the horizon.

"Kakariko," Link replied, his voice short, "The safest place is always Kakariko."

It was true: not only was Kakariko Village nestled between the mountains, but also it was said that the village was under the protection of the Great Fairy Cotera. It would be the best place for them to reconvene and strategize. It was the same place Link had tried to whisk her away to one hundred years prior.

They crossed the Horwell Bridge, then the Eagus Bridge, the horse hooves beating furiously against the wood, and approached the Sahasra Slope, gazing upwards. The slope was intentional, providing high ground and defense for the Sheikah. Guardians could not scale the slope, and most foot soldiers grew too tired to continue about halfway up. Most horses wouldn't do well to scale the slope, but that mattered not to Link. The trip up the Sahasra Slope took half a day less than through the Dueling Peaks, and they didn't exactly have a lot of time on them.

He spurred the horse onwards, trekking up the slope in record time. The horse seemed to sense their urgency, her gallop never faltering. Link would be sure to let her rest once they reached Kakariko. She was a good girl.

The slope finally began to decrease in intensity, as they approached the valley that would lead them into Kakariko Village. Zelda had to wonder what states the Sheikah were in. Did they know about Hyrule Castle? Did they hear Ganon's voice, booming as it was, from Kakariko Village?

Of course they would have. She imagined all of Hyrule heard and felt Ganon in that moment, as the country shook and the mountains quaked. Hyrule Castle, which had once been visible from the clustered graveyard at Kakariko, would now be visible from certain parts of the village.

The chimes and prayer cloths strewn above the archway into Kakariko Village billowed violently in the brisk wind. The sound of the horse hooves would do well to wake everyone up in the village, if they were not already awake.

They weren't disappointed, then, to see most of the village outside of the elder's home as they galloped in. They truly must have been a sight to behold, dirty, covered in blood, sweat, and tears, clutching each other desperately as they dismounted, and Link specifically clutching at his right arm. One Sheikah took a hold of the horse as the rest of them parted, giving the two exhausted Hylians a clear path to the staircase leading to Impa's home. Light shined through the windows of the elder's home: she was awake and expecting them. All of Hyrule was expecting them. Ganon had played his move; now it was their move.

They limped up the stairs, begging their legs to move as the exhaustion from what they had just done crept on them. The Blood Moon moved higher and higher above them in the sky, washing the land in a faint red glow. Next to him, Link felt Zelda grow faint, the Blood Moon making her weak, and in a quick swoop, he cradled her against his chest, climbing the last few steps and into Impa's home.

Impa started, "Link, the Princess – is she –"

"The Blood Moon," Link finished, setting Zelda down on a chair in the corner of the room, tossing his Hylian hood around her shoulders, "She grows weak at its apex."

Paya, seemingly came out of the shadows, and was at Zelda's side, placing a hand on her forehead, "She is warm – too warm – and this blood… Master Link, why is she covered in blood? Why are _you _covered in blood?"

"Paya, enough," Impa commanded from her cushion, observing the commotion, "Starting a panic will not help in this situation."

"I'm okay," Zelda murmured from her spot in the corner, her eyes closed as her head swayed, "It's… stronger than before, but I can handle it."

"Link," Impa cut in, "We heard the roar and we felt the ground tremble. What happened? Did you and the Princess find the ancient Zonai city?"

"We did and… it's not good," Link began, kneeling in front of Impa, his legs screaming in exhaustion, "We went to the Forgotten Temple, and we found the entrance to the ancient Zonai city, but were ambushed by the Yiga Clan."

"Truth be told, I am not surprised," Impa muttered, her old eyes sharp and blazing, "Since the initial onset of the Blood Moon's return, Yiga attacks have nearly tripled across Hyrule. Foot Soldiers and Blade Masters no longer simply hide in plain sight as Hylians, but rather now they simply appear out of thin air, terrorizing the countryside. They no longer have a reason to hide, a reason to fear. Am I wrong in this assumption?"

Link shook his head, "No. We travelled to the city and underwent a series of trials to open the final door and… and honestly, I'm not quite sure where to begin."

"Start from the beginning," Impa said, gently.

"Well, we entered the room of Ganon's final resting place, except Ganon was not actually dead. He was being held in a sort of stasis in time, being held in place by this giant glowing hand. But as we approached his body, Zelda's hand and mine began to glow, and so did Ganon's. Then, the corpse became alive, and his head snapped towards us, breaking the stasis."

"Your hands," Impa whispered, a knowing look in her eyes, "How did they begin to glow?"

"The Tri-Force," Zelda whispered, "We each possess a piece of the Tri-Force."

"Then what happened?" Impa pressed.

"Then the ground shook, and Zelda fell, the floor beneath her crumbling," Link said, the events catching up to him, his voice catching, "I reached for her and caught her hand, but then we were hanging there, with no way back up. My hand slipped, but then…" Link breathed in sharply through his nostrils, "That glowing green hand, the one that had been holding Ganon at bay, pulled Zelda and I up, but then… I absorbed its power."

"You absorbed it?" Impa questioned, an inquisitive look in her eyes.

"I would imagine," Zelda interrupted, from her spot in the corner, craning her head around Paya as she tended to her, "Since the hand no longer had a place anchoring it, it fastened itself to the last thing it had touched, which would have been you. And then after that, Ganon awoke, and spread his malice everywhere, so I grabbed Link and all of a sudden, we were on the Great Plateau. It must have been my sacred power; I hadn't used it since that day on the Hyrule Fields. I didn't realize I could still do it."

Impa stared at Link then, a quizzical look in her eyes, "There's something else, isn't there?"

Link nodded, his mouth dry, "I, uh, I'm not sure how to explain this, but I think, right after I absorbed the glowing green hand, I had a vision."

"A vision?" Impa implored.

"Yes," Link said, scratching his chin, "I think it was a vision from an age long past; long before the first calamity ten thousand years ago. I think it was a vision of what would become the first calamity."

"Link, you didn't mention this before," Zelda murmured, pushing past Paya and sliding off of her chair, crawling towards Link.

"We didn't exactly have a moment to talk about this," Link said, running his hand through his hair.

"What did you see?" Impa pushed, her beady eyes wide.

"I saw the hero and the princess," Link whispered, "Our past lives. He looked different from me, but her," he paused, looking at Zelda, "She looked identical to you. They had an army of the ancient Zonai warriors, and were up against Ganon. They were trying to trap him, but their plan backfired, and Ganon introduced malice to the world in that moment. He struck the princess with it, and was about to strike the hero, when…"

"Link, what happened?" Zelda murmured, shifting closer to him.

"The Zonai. They sacrificed themselves. They had cast a spell to bind their power together, and locked Ganon frozen in time. However, it wasn't perfect, as minute amounts of malice were able to seep out from him."

"Which, undoubtedly, created the calamity every ten thousand years," Impa supplied, to which Link nodded wordlessly.

"And this power…?" Impa trailed off, her eyes now locked on his right arm.

Link merely looked at his arm, and that was all it took. His arm began to glow a faint green, floating particles dancing around it. Beside him, Zelda gasped, her hand creeping forward. Instantly, Link's left hand grasped her wrist, halting it.

"Don't touch it," Link warned, "I don't know what would happen, and I saw the extent of the powers. I don't know how to control it."

"Learning to control it is going to be pivotal in this final battle against Ganon," Impa said, "The hero and the princess from the age of the Zonai brought them down to the crypts of Hyrule for a reason. There must be a way to use that power to defeat Ganon, once and for all."

"But how?" Zelda asked, "We have no way of knowing how to control this power. How will Link learn to control this power if he doesn't have a teacher?"

"You didn't have a teacher, did you not?" Impa shot back, her lips curling upwards, the hint of a smile, "You two do not give yourselves enough credit. You managed well to figure out how to unlock your sealing powers, and I am certain that your knight here is well adept enough to learn how to access these Zonai powers."

"But I don't have the time to learn these powers," Link protested, "Ganon is alive, Ganon is _free, _we haven't got the time to learn how to control these powers."

"And yet," Impa tilted her head, "You are here in Kakariko, speaking to me, safe from harm. If you did not have time, why did you come here? Why not go straight back to Hyrule Castle?"

"I had to make sure Zelda was safe," Link said immediately, his eyes sharp and passionate.

Impa barked out a short, hearty laugh, and both Link and Zelda flinched. Paya, however, lingering in the corner, was used to it, "I will never stop being amused at how you truly have never changed. A man may lose every last memory to his name, with hardly his own name, but at the core of his being, he is still the hero through and through." Her smile vanished, though her eyes still held their mirth, "And what's more, If Ganon is alive, and you don't have time, then why has he not yet attacked? I would reckon he is still biding his time, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. He has been dormant for millennia, and I would imagine he is still regaining his strength. That all being said, do not mistake my words for suggesting you be passive. That malice is still billowing from Hyrule Castle onto the fields, and it won't be long until it reaches the first of the Hylian settlements. Time is still of the essence, however, the two of you are in no shape to fight back against Ganon. I do believe that for right now, you can take a moment to breathe and rest." She paused, scrutinizing the two of them, "Oh, and take a bath; it certainly looks as though the two of you have seen better days."

Both Link and Zelda laughed lightly at that, taking the moment to look at each other fully for the first time since they appeared on the Great Plateau. Their clothes were ripped and their faces were scratched, with cuts and bruises dotting their arms and legs.

They would take the night to rest. But then, after that, they did not have a moment to lose.

* * *

Paya, who was absolutely rambling about nothing and everything at once, led Zelda to the bathhouse. It seemed to be a nervous habit of hers, Zelda noted, as Paya flipped from topic to topic in a blink of an eye.

"What I mean is, it simply wouldn't be right for you to just go to sleep without taking a bath first, what with all that dried blood on you – and you should really go to see one of the healers about some of these cuts and bruises; our healers have techniques that have been passed down from generation to generation – and what happened to you during the Blood Moon, pardon me for asking, it's just terrifying, the effect that they have on you – and –"

"Paya," Zelda interrupted, wondering how best to word this, "While I do appreciate your company, I was quite alone with Link down in the ancient Zonai city, away from the surface… and, well, I think I would like to listen to the crickets chirp, if that's okay."

Paya nodded fiercely, the tops of her cheeks growing bright red, "V-Very good, your m-m-majesty."

There she went with that honorific, again.

Rather than correct her on it, she smiled, which caused Paya to break out in a huge smile, "Just inside here," she opened the door for Zelda and ushered her inside, puling out a multitude of different bottles and towels, "Please do not hesitate to help yourself to any of the oils and soaps. We have running water in this bathhouse – it's quite the work of engineering, if I do say so myself. The water comes from Lantern Lake, and is filtered through a grid of Flameblades, so the water comes out piping hot. Please, take all the time you need."

The door shut behind her, and for the first time in weeks, she was alone with just herself and her thoughts. She sighed, turning the nob next to the bathtub, and watching in awe as hot water came out of the pipes, steam rising off of it. It was a new invention since the last time she had been in Kakariko.

She smiled. The Sheikah were always up to something, weren't they.

She stripped down, peeling the articles of clothing off of her, which were saturated with sweat and blood. She was still weary from the Blood Moon, and so this process was slow and steady. Finally, she had managed to take them all off, and staring down at them, she wondered if they would ever be clean again. She took her time placing one toe at a time in the waters, the heat from it invigorating. Truly, she couldn't remember the last time she had a hot bath. It must have been back at the castle a century ago, though they didn't have running water like this.

She sat back in the tub and sighed, feeling the hot water penetrate her tired bones. She reached for the soaps, taking care to meticulously wash and condition her hair, the oils in her hands feeling like the most luxurious things in the world.

Her thoughts began to rampage her, as the soaked in the tub. They had made it out of the ancient Zonai city, but at what cost? Ganon was still out there, presumably still in the city, his malice spreading, destroying everything in its path, and here she was, soaking in a hot bathtub in Kakariko Village, as though she had not a care in the world.

But Impa had been right. Ganon would have attacked by now if he was ready, and the two of them were in no shape to fight. They had a moment to collect themselves and form their next plan of attack. Ganon was still shriveled, sinewy, and corpse-like. No doubt he still needed to regain his power to be at the same strength that he was at before.

The image of his eyes glowing hot and red with malice was still burning behind her eyelids. She wished to never see that again.

And Link – there was still much more they didn't know about whatever Zonai power he had inherited from the city. The power didn't seem malicious, and from what she knew, the ancient Zonai were a tribe of magic users, and if they could harness this magic, then she knew without a doubt that her knight and hero could control it as well.

She laid in the bath for a while longer yet, allowing the hot water to soothe her until the water turned warm and then it cooled to something nearly uncomfortable. At this point, Zelda finally stood, her bones feeling rejuvenated, and reached for a towel to dry off. Standing now though, she felt the ache in her body that no bath would be able to fix. It was pure exhaustion from after a long journey. It was something that not even a night's sleep would fix.

So why then, would the Princess tossing and turning that night, unable to catch this elusive sleep?

Finally, after an hour or so of this in her room at the inn, she gave up, throwing the covers from her body. It was the same room she had stayed in her very first night in Kakariko after defeating the calamity. That night, she hadn't slept either, and that same window beckoned her in the way that it had before.

Zelda donned her Hylian hood, unlocked the window, and climbed out onto the roof of the inn. She breathed in the cool Kakariko Village air, and sighed.

And realized she wasn't alone.

Link was already there, sitting on the roof of the inn, the window to his room at the inn ajar. Impa had requested two rooms for the hero and the princess, although the two hadn't slept separately in weeks. Something told Zelda though that Impa knew this, and whether she gave them two rooms out of spite or whatever the reason was unbeknownst to her. She saw the all-knowing elder then in her mind's eye, cackling as she does, requesting the two rooms with a wink in her eye, fully knowing the two wouldn't use them both, but striving to keep up appearances.

Oh, Impa.

He smiled, beckoning her to him with a wave of his arm, and Zelda complied, tucking herself under his arm and resting her head against his shoulder.

"You couldn't sleep either?"

"Nope."

"Even though we're both exhausted?"

"Yup."

"It would be our luck."

They stayed like that for a while; listening to the crickets chirp and watching the fireflies softly illuminate the village. Out of sight, beyond the mountains, was Hyrule Castle, with Ganon slowly growing in power, his malice seeping into Hylia's Country.

But for now, they forgot about it all, simply focusing on each other.

Zelda giggled quietly to herself, burrowing her nose in Link's shoulder.

"What?" Link asked, a small smile on his face.

"Look at us: two hopeless insomniacs trying to save the world. Both of us exhausted, both of us having gone through treacherous trials to reach Ganon, and yet sleep is ever elusive to us."

"When we're done with Ganon, we will have to give sleep a piece of our minds."

"We will," Zelda smiled, "Once this is all over."

The two insomniacs stayed like that for a while yet, before their exhaustion got the better of themselves, and they fell asleep in each other's arms.

On the roof of the inn, no less.

Come morning, the Sheikah would see this spectacle as they began their day. They would comment not on it, turning a blind eye to it. They would let the hero and the princess get their well-deserved rest, even on the roof of that Kakariko Village inn.


	18. Chapter 18

Malice

By: dontwaitupxx

* * *

Chapter Eighteen

* * *

On the day that the ancient Zonai city rose to the surface from beneath Hyrule Castle, Impa had sent for her sister. As it just so happened, Purah had arrived only a day after the hero and the princess, and of course, had Symin in tow.

She had seen the ancient Zonai city rise from her telescope perched on her tech lab. Or more specifically, she saw the sanctum of Hyrule Castle rise menacingly over the peaks of the mountains. Even before she had received the missive from her sister in Kakariko, she had already gone ahead and began preparations for packing.

And by "began preparations", she really meant she made a list of all the things she needed Symin to pack.

She was still tiny, having not figured out how to reverse the effects of her anti-aging rune. She came in excited, a bundle of energy, waving around a new tablet of sorts, similar in design to the Sheikah Slate. Really, the energy she emitted was refreshing, considering the somber state the village was in.

It was her that took the liberty of waking Link and Zelda from the roof of the Kakariko Village inn; the rest of the Sheikah did not have the heart to disrupt their rest.

Purah, however, knew no such thoughtfulness.

"Oh, Linky! Princess!" Purah resonated from below the inn, her voice shrill enough to wake up anyone from even the deepest of sleeps.

The two of them stirred, stretching and yawning for but a moment, before they realized where they were. A moment stretched between them as they stared at each other, and then, like the end of a moment in stasis, they were on the move.

The two of them, now red faced in embarrassment and mortification, hastily climbed back through their respective inn windows, as though they did not just spend the night together snuggled against the brisk, cold air.

Purah cackled from below, holding her belly as her head fell backwards, watching as the princess had the decency to close her curtains to her room, while the hero, Hylia bless him, changed right in front of the open window.

In respect to the princess, Purah shielded her eyes from the view. That, and though she was technically over one hundred years old, she was still in a six year olds body, and it was not an appropriate sight to behold.

Link and Zelda emerged from their rooms a few moments later, faces washed and clothes changed. Their faces were still visibly embarrassed from the exchange, but Purah thought well to leave that behind them.

But perhaps to save as blackmail for a rainy day.

The princess met Purah at Impa's home. She met Purah alone, Link having been summoned by Impa. The two of them had gone on a short walk, towards the graveyard on the northern side of the village, where they could see Hyrule Castle and presumably discuss strategies. They would not be disturbed there, and would be able to track the malice from Hyrule Castle.

"Princess!" Purah practically sang, as Zelda went in to hug the tiny Sheikah, "Have I got something to show you!"

Purah had practically moved into her sister's home, Symin having been dubbed as a pack mule, carrying everything under the bright sun that she could possibly need. It included countless suitcases, a portable telescope, and of course, a large parcel featuring multiple pairs of colored glasses, fit for any occasion.

"You seem chipper," Zelda noted, a smile adorning her features, "In light of everything."

"Oh, yes, I did see what had happened over by the castle," Purah admonished, waving a hand dismissingly towards the castle. Zelda cringed, " That Ganon: trying to rain on my parade. The two of you will defeat him, no doubt. But, until then, have I got something incredible to show you!"

"What is it?" Zelda asked, as Purah tried to hide the object in her hands behind her tiny figure.

"Well," Purah began, "Remember when the towers all sunk into the ground and the power behind the Sheikah technology all went dormant?" Zelda nodded wordlessly, and Purah continued, "Well, with the Sheikah Slate losing its functionality, that meant that years of research and progress was suddenly gone – vanished! – as though all of my work had been for nothing. Princess, do you remember what you told me that day?"

Zelda managed a small smile, "I'm afraid that I don't. Forgive me for not remembering; a lot happened that day, and I'm afraid my memory is a little foggy."

"That's okay, because I _do_ remember!" Purah bounced in her shoes, doing a little dance, "You said, and I quote, 'I wouldn't be surprised if you could figure out a new, different technology to power the slate up,'" Purah even mimicked Zelda's accent, and the princess wasn't sure if she should be insulted or not, "'It doesn't necessarily have to be Ancient Sheikah technology. It could be anything!' and from there, I got right on down to business, trying to create a new power source. I started with trying to harness the power of electricity."

"The power of electricity?" Zelda asked, a light in her eye, "Did it work?"

"No, it did not work!" Purah exclaimed, "I had no way to contain the electricity in a mobile power source, and more than once, Symin here got electrocuted!"

Symin merely lifted a hand up beside his head, shaking it a little.

"Then," Purah continued, "I tried to harness the power of the sun, and see if I could make the slate solar powered, and I _was _successful to a point."

"But then?" Zelda asked, her palms itching in anticipation.

Purah deadpanned, "Have you seen the weather in Hyrule? One minute it is all sunshine and rainbows, and then the next minute, it is thunder storming, and you are running for cover, because your new power source is made of metal and it's beginning to spark. Not to mention, _nighttime, _for the love of Nayru! The sun is gone for half of the day, even less so as Hyrule gets closer and closer to the winter solstice! The thing was useless at night!"

"Did you figure out something that _did _work?" Zelda asked.

"Oh, did I ever!" Purah exclaimed, "Yes, I managed to figure out how to make an efficient, and mobile power source for my latest and greatest invention," She held out of stone tablet proudly, lifting it slightly above her head, "I give you: the Purah Slate™!"

All was silent, as Purah was frozen with the slate lifted above her head. Zelda looked around, wondering if she was missing something.

"I _said: _The Purah Slate™!" Purah, yet again, thrust the slate up into the air above her head, her face grinning towards the sky.

Zelda simply stared at Purah. Purah opened one eye, sighed angrily to herself, and then glared behind herself at Symin, casting him a dirty look, while he was engrossed in a book left open on one of Impa's bookshelves.

"_Symin!_" Purah hissed, and the poor Sheikah stumbled, the book he was reading falling to the floor.

"What is it?" He asked, a bewildered look on his face.

"_That's… your… cue!" _Purah hissed through her teeth.

"Oh, right!" Symin scrambled, reaching into his pocket, before throwing a glob of confetti into the air, as Purah held the new slate proudly, the confetti falling to the pristine wood floors of Impa's home.

"The Purah Slate™!" Purah proclaimed, "Allowing the accessibility and convenience of the ancient Sheikah technology, soon to be available in every household across Hyrule and _beyond_!"

"What does it do?" Zelda breathed, her hand reaching out to touch the slate.

"Well, I think the better question, your highness, is what does it _not _do!" She laughed, before shrugging her shoulders, "Well, not as much as the Sheikah Slate was capable of; that much I am still working on," Purah confessed, letting Zelda hold the slate, "Sadly, I am still trying to figure out how to redefine the laws of physics to create magnesis, stasis, and cryonis… and I haven't even the faintest idea how to replicate those bombs from the Sheikah Slate," she laughed, "However, I have been able to replicate the camera rune and the Hyrule Compendium technology from the slate, and this time, I added my own personal flair: the video rune!" Purah jumped up excitedly at this, "It was something I was working on with the Sheikah Slate, and had perfected before the power went offline. Once I was able to get a working power source, I just had to convert the same technology to the new slate!"

"How does this video rune work?" Zelda asked, turning the slate over in her hands. It was designed in a similar fashion to the Sheikah Slate, with the Sheikah Eye on the back, however, this slate itself was more… flamboyant? Glitzy?

There were gemstones etched into the back of it, for Nayru's sake.

"For that, I have a… demonstration, if you will!" Purah beamed, coming up on Zelda's side. Zelda bent down, so Purah could look over her shoulder, "I kept the formatting as similar to the Sheikah Slate as possible, in the efforts to make it user friendly. Of course," Purah pressed her lips together, "I have made some adjustments to only improve the slate's functionality. Go ahead and open the camera rune like you would have on the Sheikah Slate."

Zelda toggled over to the camera rune on the slate, and instantly, the camera came to life. Zelda could not help but beam at the slate; it was like reconnecting with a long lost friend.

"Now," Purah continued, "Press that button right there to access the archived album. From there it will prompt you for the picture album or the video album. Click on the video album."

Zelda did as she was told. In the video album, one video file lay in wait, with the thumbnail featuring Purah in the center. Zelda clicked on the file, and the picture filled the screen. Instantly, the picture began moving, and sounds came from the Purah Slate.

_Symin, is this thing on?_ Purah had said from inside the Purah Slate. Zelda could hear her with the utmost clarity, the sounds coming from some undisclosed location on the slate.

She was inside the Hateno Ancient Tech Lab, standing near her table in the center of the floor. The slate's field of vision moved up and down; presumably Symin was behind the camera, and he was shaking his head that _yes, _the slate was on and _yes, _it had just recorded that.

In the video, Purah had composed herself briefly, before she began.

_Hello, Princess, _Purah had sang, _Welcome to your step by step tutorial on how to use the video rune on your brand new Purah Slate!_

Zelda, holding the slate, looked briefly at Purah next to her, a light in her eyes at hearing that it was hers. Purah simply nodded, smiling.

The camera angle moved, and now Purah could be seen with her back towards the front door of the tech lab. It was like Zelda was watching everything from Symin's point of view; _The video rune is easiest understood as multiple pictures strung together to make a moving picture. _Purah in the video explained, _You are able to see sight and hear sounds. I have yet to figure out how to incorporate smells into the slate's functionality, but I assure you, it is going to be an important development!_

Zelda laughed; Purah's grip around her shoulders tightened.

_When wanting to record a video on your Purah Slate, all you need to do is open up the video rune and a small red button will appear on the screen of your Purah Slate. _Purah had explained, _Simply press that button, and you will see the word 'recording' flashing in bright red letters. That lets you know that you are live and the slate is recording. Utilize the lens of the Purah Slate during this by pretending it is your own eye, and move the slate to capture the views that you want in your video. Even the smallest sounds have the potential to be picked up in the video, so make sure the area surrounding you is quiet! Once your video is completed, just press the red button on the screen again, and the video will stop recording. You'll be able to find your completed video in the video album archives!_

Zelda felt a tear begin to form at the corner of her eye at this.

_That's all for now, Princess! _Purah in the slate had said, _If you have any other questions, do feel free to let me know! I mean, not me, here in the slate, the real me! Anyways, bye!_

The camera stilled at that moment, ending on a frozen frame of Purah waving at the camera with a huge smile on her face.

"And there you have it!" Purah said, jumping onto her feet, "Now, the video rune will have more uses throughout Hyrule other than simply to create tutorial video or create a funny video for someone," Purah turned solemn suddenly, turning back towards Zelda, "It can also be used as a way of forever immortalizing the memory of someone that we love. With the slate's true to life moving picture technology, along with its ability to process matching sounds, it can be used to keep the memory of a loved one alive until the end of time." She paused, "Or at least, until the slate's power source runs out."

"Oh, how I would have loved to have gotten a video of the Champions one hundred years ago," Zelda confessed, wiping the tear from her eye, "or of my father."

"Well," Purah supplied, "Though not always perfect, our memories do a fine job of preserving their memory for us, don't they. And no amount of luminous stones is required to power our memory, because brain power is the only source of power that we will never run out of –"

"Purah," Zelda interrupted, her voice shaking, "What did you just say?"

"That brain power is the only source of power –"

"No – before that," Zelda said, holding her breath.

"That… that no amount of luminous stones is required to power our memory –"

"Purah…" Zelda gulped, turning over the Purah Slate in her hands, until she saw on the back a piece of luminous stone, attached internally by a series of wires and conductors.

It glowed, in a similar fashion that Link's arm had, and at the realization, Zelda's stomach dropped.

"I have to find Link."

Zelda quickly opened the door and ran down the stairs of Impa's home, the brisk wintery air nipping at her face. She leaped two steps at a time, before she made it to the ground. Two Sheikah guards stood at the steps leading up to Impa's home, and they stared at her bewildered, before one of them caught onto his senses and said, "Princess?"

"Is Link still with Impa?" Zelda asked, a frantic look in her eyes, "Are they still overlooking Tetla Lake by the graveyard?"

"Why, yes, Princess, he is: is there anything that we can help you with?"

However, that question was already left unanswered in the air, for Zelda was already off towards the left, running quickly with the slate squared away on her hip.

Truth be told, she would be lying if she said it did not feel reassuring to have the slate at her hip once again.

She ran through the valley, the wind chimes and prayer cloths billowing gently in the breeze above her. As she approached the landing, she saw Impa first, who was seated on a cushion underneath the great tree overlooking the land. Impa saw her instantly, and seemed to be saying something, her mouth moving. Her eyes were sharp, and she gave the princess a brief nod before looking out towards the railing. Then, Zelda saw Link, with his back towards her, overlooking the Hyrule Fields and out at the castle.

Zelda looked to what he saw.

She was alarmed with the amounts of malice that had already seeped into the country.

Hyrule Castle was painted a dark magenta, and the ancient Zonai city beneath it swirled in a magnificent mixture of pale greens and deep purples. It served as the epicenter, and from it, the fields were stained just past the Castle Town ruins. The tendrils of malice billowed gently, menacingly, creeping their way outwards, multiplying.

Link heard her approach, and slowly turned around to face her. His face was unreadable, though Zelda could see the barest hint of resolve.

His right arm was glowing a faint green, growing in intensity as she stepped closer. She froze, unsure of what to do.

"Zelda," Link's eyes were fixated at her hip, "What is that on your hip?"

She looked down to the Purah Slate and saw that, strangely too, the slate was beginning to glow a faint green. She held it in both of her hands, turning it around to where a piece of luminous stone could be seen clearly from the back.

"Purah's new invention," Zelda supplied, "She's learned how to create a power source to power a slate similar to the Sheikah Slate: from luminous stones."

Link visibly flinched, before looking down at his glowing arm and then back at the slate in Zelda's hands. He seemed to contemplate something, his face turning more thoughtful. She could see the pieces of the puzzle fit together in his head, before he took a step forward towards the slate.

The glowing in his arm grew in intensity, as did it on the Purah Slate.

He took another step forward, and then another, closing the distance between them. Zelda was frozen to the ground, unable to move, as she saw his arm and the slate grow brighter and brighter.

"What are you doing?" Zelda managed, letting go of a breath she didn't realize she had been holding.

"I… just need to see…" Link murmured, now just two steps away from her and the slate, "I can hear them…"

"Who?" Impa asked, leaning forward on her pillow.

"The Zonai…"

Link raised his right arm, glowing magnificently, with hardly a gap between him and the slate now. Despite his arm burning, he kept moving forward, being drawn to the stone on the slate by some unseen force. He took a final step forward, and placed his fingertips onto the slate.

As Link touched the slate, his vision went white. The world fell away, and he found himself soaring above Hyrule, the land a magnificent array of greens and browns and blues despite the jarring blemish in the center. Time bent in this moment, and he felt the hands of time twisting back, back, back. He soared towards the castle, towards the city, towards Ganon, and once again, saw the vision deep beneath Hyrule Castle, of the ancient Zonai warriors trapping and freezing Ganon in time in their stasis.

This vision fell away, and he soared above Hyrule again. He began to understand. He could begin to see how Hyrule changed permanently in that moment. The Zonai were a major tribe, set out in various areas across Hyrule. They were based deep within the Faron region; however, they were found in Lanayru, Gerudo, Hebra, Eldin, Akkala – all throughout the land. All at once, the power of the Zonai began to be stripped away from them, magic swirling away towards the center of the country like smoke from a candle.

The world flashed, and time moved on.

All that was left of the Zonai in that moment were glowing green rocks, illuminating the darkness of night with a soft, faint glow.

A soft voice whispered to him, insistent on the wind.

_The power already lies within you: clear your mind and will it to be true._

When Link came to, his arm was no longer burning, and he was on his back. He opened his eyes and his vision focused, and he could see Zelda leaning over him, cupping his face in her hands. Her lips were moving, but through the ringing in his ears, he was unable to hear her.

The ringing soon died down, and he could hear her saying his name, her thumbs brushing comfortingly over his cheekbones. He licked his lips.

"I'm okay," Link coughed, moving over onto his side, trying to catch his bearings. He faced Impa, who was looking at him quizzically. However, the Sheikah elder seemed to understand, and behind her confusion was a sense of understanding.

"You saw another vision just now, didn't you, hero?" It wasn't a question. Link nodded wordlessly, before he sat up, wiping his hair away from his eyes. The slate lay a ways away, having been dropped unceremoniously to the ground, all but forgotten, the second he had collapsed. Looking from the slate to his arm though, he was surprised to find that his arm did not glow, at least for the time being.

"What did you see?" Zelda pressed, inching closer to him, her hands on his bicep, needing to touch him somewhere - anywhere.

Link paused, taking in a deep breath, trying to make sense of the vision that he saw.

"I saw," he began, clearing his throat, "the end of the same vision I saw from beneath Hyrule Castle: the Zonai warriors sacrificing themselves and placing Ganon in a stasis. But then – I saw all of Hyrule, all at once, in that moment. The Zonai warriors… they had called upon not just their own power, but also the power of _all _the Zonai – all of the magic users – from across the land. However… this came with a price. They did not simply sacrifice themselves."

"How do you mean?" Impa questioned, "Link, what happened to the Zonai all of those years ago?"

"They were frozen in their own sort of stasis," Link explained, "Except it was the_ souls_ of the Zonai. They're… they're dead: long since dead. Stripping away their magic killed them. But it was the price the warriors had to pay to keep Ganon at bay. Their stasis, however, manifested in the form of…"

Link trailed off then, staring at the slate with a nauseous look on his face.

"Their souls are trapped in… in the luminous stones." Zelda whispered, "Why, there is an entire city built on the souls of this tribe."

"The Zora couldn't have known," Link murmured, shaking his head.

"And the _slate…"_

"What's done is done," Impa bristled, "There is no use being upset over what we could not have known. Besides, this power now lies in you, hero. We have to find a way to access it."

_The power already lies within you: clear your mind and will it to be true._

He heard the same voice again, the one from his vision, though it had not made any sense to him. Was it possible that this power could be accessed that easily, and furthermore, could it be controlled with such ease?

Link stood up, moving Zelda's hands off of his arm as he took a step back. He placed his hands together at the center of his chest, closing his eyes, and clearing his mind, willing any thoughts away until he could focus on this power within him.

Soon, all of Hyrule fell away, and he heard not the sounds of the wild. He only felt the simple awareness of his body present in that very time and space.

Slowly, he outstretched his right hand, willing the power forward.

He heard two simultaneous gasps from in front of him, but paid them little mind, Instead, he focused his energy in front of him and felt something from deep within him move, like a crack deepening on a dam, more and more, before it collapsed entirely, the water from the reservoir bursting in waves across the land.

Link opened his eyes.

In front of him was a branch from a tree, levitating in thin air.


	19. Chapter 19

Malice

By: dontwaitupxx

* * *

Chapter Nineteen

* * *

It was the calm before the storm. From either front, neither Ganon nor Link and Zelda made any advances towards one another. It was pleasant, almost, should one choose to ignore the castle looming red over them. It was clear now that Ganon's power was growing, deep within the confines of the castle, as all of Hyrule was now bathed in the glowing red light of the Blood Moon every night. Monsters were constantly revitalizing, growing stronger and stronger with each passing Blood Moon. It wouldn't be much longer now before the monsters began terrorizing the countryside, no longer afraid to make the first move, becoming more brash and aggressive. Reports of the Yiga Clan were becoming more and more frequent, as they subjected the citizens of Hyrule to their wrath.

Within the last one hundred years, during the Age of Burning Fields, all of Hyrule had migrated away from Hyrule Castle. They kept to the safety of the other major providences, and generally kept a firm radius away from central Hyrule. If the threat of Calamity Ganon wasn't enough, now all of Hyrule had a front row view to Hyrule Castle from almost every area in Hyrule, and the people were migrating farther, leaving faster than ever before. They travelled onwards, now finding the treacherous slopes and climates of the Hebra Mountains almost hospitable, or travelling through the thick and humid climates of the Faron region to make it to Lurelin Village. Many, even once they made it to the shoreline, knew it to not be enough, and secured passage onto the high seas, to travel south, or east, or west, or anywhere the wind would take them that wasn't Hyrule. The threat was looming, and many decided that they would rather not stick around to see it.

The clock was ticking, and sooner rather than later, the storm would begin.

And Link and Zelda wasted no time in preparing.

The two would be found in the woods overlooking Kakariko Village, near the Great Fairy Fountain. Link was surprised to find that he was able to access his powers naturally, without a teacher. Though he had only been able to teach himself the basics, it had come almost naturally to him. He found that his powers allowed him to use telekinesis, in order to move objects around. He found that it only worked with solid objects – it did not work to move around water or air – and he was slowly figuring out how to move objects farther away from where he was.

"This is absolutely fascinating," Zelda said, watching as Link's arm glowed in varying shades of green, "Imagine, if everyone had the powers of the Zonai like you do. It would change the way people live forever."

"There once _was _a time when an entire tribe held these powers," Link said, practicing his powers on a small rock. The rock levitated in the air a few meters away from him. When he began practicing, the rock would shake in the air, as though he had not a firm grip on his powers, but now, after much practice, the rock was stationary in the air, the skill having been mastered.

"I want to see how small of an object you can move," Zelda mused, looking around her for a small enough object. She bent down to the grass and plucked a small blade from the ground, holding it between her index and thumb, "Link, try to use your powers on this."

Instantly, the blade of grass levitated from her fingertips, Link's arm outstretched in front of him, the fingers splayed, "Incredible," Zelda whispered, plucking the blade of grass from the air and jogging a few meters away from him, "Okay, try from over here."

It was slow going, at first, as Link concentrated on the small blade of grass in her fingertips. More than once, as he focused, did various objects around her get pulled up in a halfhearted levitation before thrown back down in frustration. A pebble here, an apple, a twig there, as he focused more and more on getting the blade of grass in her fingers.

The first sign of movement was a small twitch. Link latched onto this, and focused, a small bead of sweat running down his temple, and before long, the blade of grass was levitating in the air from Zelda's hand again, albeit shaking slightly.

"Amazing," Zelda said, as she dropped the blade of grass unceremoniously and went to scribble something in her journal, "Let's see how heavy of an object you can do," she glanced around, before her eyes found a large bounder a few meters away, "Link, try to see if you can lift this."

Link held out his hand, his arm glowing bright green, and instantly, Zelda was uprooted from her spot on the ground, and she was suddenly flipped upside down, Link's telekinesis being focused on her right ankle. Her arms and free leg flailed about, as she screeched, the blood rushing to her head. Link was laughing carelessly, as he beckoned her closer with his arm, before having her drop gently into his arms. He set her down gently, before placing a small kiss on her forehead.

"You did that on purpose," Zelda admonished, shaking her head, her cheeks still red.

"Maybe," Link confessed, "I wanted to see if I could move people, and I knew you wouldn't have said yes if I had asked so…"

"Well, you're right in that assumption," Zelda said, primly, before her face broke out into a huge grin and she ran over to her journal, mumbling something about ' the decency of it all'.

The next great discovery on Link's powers came while practicing the telekinesis.

"Link, I want to see if you are able to move around the water in the pond," Zelda said. The pond had a thin, filmy sheet of ice over it, in the cold Necluda climate. It was more of a slushy texture, truthfully, kind of in that slimy, in-between state between solid and liquid.

Link outstretched his arm, focusing his energy on the water in the pond, trying to raise a portion of it into the air. He imagined moving it like a small disc, or even an orb, completely separate and detached from the pond.

However, instead of it moving, the water froze completely in the pond, creating a small disk of ice floating across the top of the pond amidst the slush.

The way Zelda moved next was near instantaneous. One moment, she was standing across from Link, watching as he concentrated with his hand stretched in front of him. The next, she was on her belly in front of the pond, her hand outstretched in front of her. Her eyes were wide, her smile dazzling, as she poked and prodded at the small disk, the water rippling and billowing throughout the pond.

"It is actual ice," Zelda said, excitedly, "Cold to the touch, unlike the Sheikah technology on the slate, which was an artificial ice. You actually have the ability to freeze water!"

Seeing Zelda like this made Link smile. Out here, just the two of them, with her experiments, was where she truly thrived. She was Zelda the Scholar, not simply Zelda the Princess of Hyrule; of a land far since devastated and dismantled. She was a person here, not just a title. No longer did she wear golden crowns and long, flowing dresses. She traded those in for a suitable pair of pants, and frankly, a sensible hat and pair of mittens, in this weather. Though her nose was red and her hair was short, she was Zelda and she was stunning.

They worked together to be able to create a stronger, thicker ice that could create a bridge across the pond. Naturally, the way she tested this was to try and stand on it and see if it could hold her weight.

"Careful," Link said, suppressing a laugh as she inched one toe onto the sheet of ice, testing the strength of the ice.

"Of course," Zelda waved off, placing a little more weight onto the ice. The ice stood strong, and she took that as her cue to place both feet onto it, her arms held beside her to help balance.

And naturally, the ice shattered in this moment, and her feet splashed into the shallow pond, with Link falling backwards, laughing maniacally.

By that afternoon, however, Link had managed to freeze enough water to create a thick walkway for her to walk on across the pond. She tested it further, by jumping up and down on the ice, testing its strength, only to scurry off with a squeal as she heard and felt it crack beneath her.

The amount of socks that were hanging on a clothesline to dry was astonishing, really.

The third, and final, ability Link and Zelda discovered was his power to freeze objects in a stasis, quite similar to the capabilities of the Sheikah Slate and even more similar to the stasis Ganon had been held in the ancient Zonai city. Link started small, freezing an apple in midair that Zelda had thrown his way, and then made his way up to a stone, then a branch, and then finally, Zelda herself.

Truth be told, it had been an accident, freezing her in a time stasis, but he held onto the information that he could, in fact, freeze beings in a stasis.

Though, it wasn't nearly long enough of a stasis if he wanted to use it on Ganon.

It had only been a couple of seconds, and though the effect was there, it was not nearly as long as he needed.

Truly, he felt like he was missing something. Though he was getting a handle on these Zonai powers, something about them didn't feel complete. The Zonai in his vision had a much better grip on the powers than he did now, and though they had more practice and more experience than he did, he did, in fact, hold the power of the _entire _Zonai tribe in his right arm. From time to time, he felt their whispers, tingling on the wind, swirling up his arm towards his ear, but before he could understand their words, understand their ancient language, the voices were gone, evaporated into the air.

It seemed that he wasn't the only one thinking these thoughts.

As Link and Zelda entered Impa's home, they gasped.

The Elder's home was in a state of disarray. It was like a tornado had come through, wrecking havoc on the old woman's home.

That tornado had a name. Her name was Purah.

Purah was flying around at a mile a minute, whizzing around to various books and tomes and texts open. Around them, papers flew throughout the air, some of them ripped out from priceless, ancient texts, before being stomped on as Purah flew back, constantly cross-referencing and calculating.

And her sister, bless her heart, was just seated on her cushion, watching impassively as Purah continued to overstay her welcome.

"Symin, hold these two next to each other," Purah demanded, as she stood up onto a stool and produced a magnifying glass out of thin air, leaning in to compare the two texts, "Yup! Just as I thought!"

"What's going on here?" Zelda asked, tentatively, looking around to all of the chaos. Symin wouldn't dare meet her gaze, hiding behind the two small sheets of text he was holding. Impa, however, barked out a single laugh, the tops of her lips curling upwards only fractionally.

"We have been trying to figure that out for the last hour," Impa said, dryly, "My sister here has been chattering to herself and hasn't been making any sense. She's been devastating my books."

"I've been doing it in the name of science!" Purah exclaimed, her fist punched into the air above her, before she dived back into her work, her glasses sliding down to the tip of her nose, "I am on the cusp of something, I swear of it!"

"Well whatever it is, you have been 'on the cusp' of it for the last hour now," Impa said, "Tell us what you're thinking."

Purah whirled on Link, then, pushing her glasses back up her nose, "Linky, you've been getting better and better at controlling these powers, correct?"

"I suppose so, yes…" Link said, his eyes darting around as Purah flew across the room.

"But you're feeling like there's something missing, right? You feel like you can't quite master the powers given to you!"

"How did you know that?" Link asked, wringing out his hands, "You didn't somehow develop the technology to read minds, did you?"

"Oh, wouldn't that be something," Purah said, her eyes lighting up as the idea formulated, "But no, you're getting off topic!"

"Us? Getting off topic?" Impa said, her brow twitching, "Never."

"I know why you can't master the powers! I know what you're missing!" Purah rattled on, ignoring her sister.

"Well, what is it?" Zelda asked.

"It's because…" Purah paused dramatically, peering at them over her perched glasses, "It's because the powers aren't being focused."

"What do you mean, focused?" Impa asked.

"Think of the sun and a magnifying glass," Purah said, producing the magnifying glass again, "Without the magnifying glass, the sun is scattered all around, but when you use the magnifying glass to pinpoint the sun on a specific spot, it's much more concentrated! That's what Link needs to do! Have you noticed anything interesting with the powers?"

"I have noticed that I hear the voices of the Zonai from time to time," Link said, grabbing his right arm unconsciously, "It's like they're giving me instructions, telling me what to do, but before I can understand them, the voice is gone, and I'm left with this power that, while I've learned quickly, I can't get past the basics."

"Have you noticed any moments where the voices are clear, and where you are able to hear them?" Purah pressed.

Link pressed his lips together, his eyes locked on a point on the wall, "When I touched the Purah Slate, right before, I could hear their voices. And then when I touched it, it was like coming out from being submerged underwater. I could hear everything so clearly in the vision."

"Any idea why that was?" Purah asked, a small smile beginning to form on her face.

It was Zelda that answered, "The luminous stones."

"That's it, Zel."

"Now how will that help Link focus his powers?" Impa asked.

"It's the pillars! The pillars were used as a beacon! They were used as a way to concentrate their powers!"

"Purah, you're not making any sense," Zelda said, taking a step towards the small Sheikah, "What do you mean, the pillars? Do you mean the ancient Sheikah towers?"

"No, not the Sheikah towers!" Purah said, "Though these pillars were like a predecessor to those towers! The ancient Sheikah based their technology on the powers of the extinct ancient Zonai! That's why the powers Link has from the Zonai line up similarly with runes from the Sheikah Slate. Am I right, Link? Tell me I'm right!"

She was right. Link would have been lying if he had said he hadn't realized there were some similarities between them. The telekinesis was similar to magnesis in moving objects. Freezing water was similar to cryonis. Stasis was similar to… well, stasis.

The bombs must have been the ancient Sheikah's idea.

"Slow down, sister," Impa said, patiently, "Explain from the beginning, and for the love of Hylia, _slow down._"

"Okay, sheesh," Purah said, a small smile on her face, "Here's what I've found out. In my research, I have found that all of the magic the ancient Zonai dealt with had a power source. You cannot create magic out of thin air. That power source has different beacons throughout all of Hyrule, but the hub of the magic, the place where the magic is most condensed and at its most powerful is in the capital of the Zonai, in the ruins to the south of here, in the Faron region.

"Link, here, is able to access that power because he gained the knowledge from the powers he absorbed. However, the powers are learned _secondhand; _Link, here, has never accessed the power source of the ancient Zonai. Link needs to access one of the beacons, but just one of the hotspots here in Hyrule won't be enough power to defeat Ganon. He needs to access the power at the hub of the magic. If he wants any hope of defeating Ganon, he needs as much power and control over this power as he can.

"Once that power is accessed at the hub, all of the pillars throughout Hyrule work as a sort of 'network' to the hub, and he is able to access that power source from anywhere within Hyrule. Of course, being close to a pillar or Zonai region makes that magic more potent. Seeing as Hyrule Castle is built upon the ancient Zonai city, he should have no issues accessing the power once he reaches the hub."

"So you're saying that Link needs to travel to the Faron region to access the power source of the Zonai so he can be more in tune with it?" Impa asked, leaning forward on her cushion.

"Exactly, you're getting it now!" Purah said, excitedly.

"But Purah," Zelda said, her eyes darting towards Link, "We don't have time to make the trip down south to the Faron region. That's a two-day trip, and we need to defeat Ganon now. Who knows what he will do in the next two days."

"We don't exactly have much of a choice, Zel," Link said, speaking up, "We are ill prepared to face Ganon now. If we faced him now, we wouldn't have a plan, we wouldn't have the powers, and we would be dooming all of Hyrule. If there's a chance that this will work, and that I could hone in on a stronger power, then it's a risk we are going to have to take."

"And you're not as far away as you might think," Impa said, "If you travel down south towards the Dueling Peaks, through them towards Lake Hylia and then back south, bypassing the Bridge of Hylia entirely, you can cut a few hours off of your journey. You'll arrive to the ruins on the side closest to the Spring of Courage. The way will be swarming with Yiga and monsters. The monsters will probably be stronger than normal, but it's nothing the two of you haven't handled before."

"We can do it," Link affirmed, his hand catching Zelda's briefly, giving it a quick squeeze.

Zelda sighed, her shoulders shrugging forward, "I guess we don't have much of a choice, do we?"

"You'll know what you need to do," Impa said to Link, cryptically, with a knowing look in her eye. Link, in response, simply nodded, casting his gaze downwards. Zelda, naturally, noticed this, but didn't say anything regarding the matter.

"And Princess," Purah cut in, circling around Symin, pointing to her hip, "You should make sure you take the Purah Slate with you. If not because of its capabilities, but because of the fact it is made up of the stones. It could very well create a tracking device for you two as you reach the ruins."

Zelda nodded, touching the slate at her side wordlessly, the corners of her lips lifting slightly.

They left the elder's home not too long after that, the two of them going their separate ways to quickly pack their things for their journey. She remembered seeing the Zonai ruins briefly, in her excursions to the three springs one hundred years prior. Back then, no one really knew anything regarding the ancient Zonai. Truth be told, no one really knew anything about the Zonai now. There was a lot of information they just didn't know, and would possibly never know about the Zonai. How did they live? Did they have any other major settlements outside of the ruins in Faron and the labyrinths? Were the labyrinths more like forts, with high walls meant to keep someone, or something, out?

And there had been shrines in the ancient springs, hidden behind a false panel. She had to wonder the chronological order of what came first. Her best guess was the springs came first, followed by the Zonai, and then finally the ancient Sheikah. But all of them were built together so seamlessly, each culture's history wrapped together, intertwined like three strings woven together. This seemed to be a common theme, as it was also seen with the Forgotten Temple, the shrine housed there, and then the Zonai city buried deep within the ground. Were there other structures like this within Hyrule? Of Ancient Hylian, or Sheikah, or Zonai, built within another culture's structure? Were there any ties to this across Hyrule? Perhaps on Lanayru Road, the legendary Spider's Nest Mountain? The Ancient Columns? Was there more to them than meets the eye? Perhaps it was wrong of her to think of them as three separate strings, three separate histories, but rather one unified history of Hyrule.

She needed to write all of this down.

As she gathered all of her belongings, which admittedly, wasn't a lot, she scribbled these thoughts into her journal, keeping track of the timeline of her thoughts. Perhaps, when all of this was over, she could consult the Sheikah scientists and Link, cross referencing with ancient Hylian tomes, to create a text that outlined the history of Hyrule's people, intertwined. It would be the first text that combined the history of ancient Hyrule with the ancient Sheikah, and of course, the first text on what they knew about the ancient Zonai. Perhaps they could travel to these areas and investigate them, perhaps finding similar discoveries like they had found at the Forgotten Temple.

She looked up from her small room at the inn, and made eye contact with Link, who was leaning against the doorframe of her room, his eyes quirked as he took her in, buried deep within her journal, scribbling furiously.

"What are you writing?"

"Just thoughts I have on the overlapping histories of the Zonai, Sheikah, and of ancient Hyrule."

"You look like home when you do that."

They smiled softly at each other for a moment, a moment suspended from the world that was crashing down around them.

"I wanted to run something by you before we headed out," Link continued, striding over to where she was seated down on the bed, kneeling in front of her.

"What is it?" Zelda asked, taking her journal and shutting it closed with a dull clap.

"I was talking with Impa," Link began, tucking a stray piece of hair behind his ear, "and she suggested, and was adamant at that, that we request the aid of the other four providences in our final assault against Ganon."

"Absolutely not," Zelda said immediately, in which Link's smile only grew.

"That's exactly what I told her myself," Link said, lifting himself up to sit next to her on the bed.

"It's reckless and careless," Zelda continued, as she thought about the suggestion, "Especially when we think of what had happened to the Champions one hundred years ago when we had them aid us in our initial attack against Ganon. They all lost their lives because Ganon had tricked us. Ganon, now, is going to be much more powerful. If the two of us won't stand a chance against him without the power of the Zonai, then what makes Impa think that an army with swords and spears will do any good?"

"I think she just doesn't want for us to go into this alone," Link admitted, "She's too old to help us herself, and I think it is her way of wanting to help us."

Zelda nodded, "But then Impa should know better than anyone else that the battle against Ganon has always been fought by the Hero and the Princess. She lives and breathes the legends. It's the way that it was always meant to be. While I would love the additional aid, if it means the almost certain loss of countless people, it is not worth it. Our best chance to defeat Ganon and save the people of Hyrule is for them to evacuate as far away as they can manage, like they have been doing, and for the final battle to be the two of us against him – like it has always been."

At this, Link looked down, almost uncomfortable, but before she could question it further, that look was wiped off completely, replaced with a small smile and a mischievous look in his eyes.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Link asked, taking her hand and lifting her onto her feet, "Lead the way, Princess."


	20. Chapter 20

Malice

By: dontwaitupxx

* * *

Chapter Twenty

* * *

As they departed from Kakariko Village via the southernmost entrance, the winds shifted, blowing in air from the east, from the peaks of Mount Lanayru.

Snow then drifted in from the skies above them, making their descent onto the West Necluda and Central Hyrule, its flakes small and wispy. The flakes melted the second they hit the ground, doing well to turn the dirt roads leading out of Kakariko wet and muddy. One snowflake, in particular, landed on Zelda's nose, freezing for but a moment, before melting away all together.

Zelda smiled.

It was the first snowfall of the season, gentle and lulling. It was almost as though the snow was casting a blanket onto Hyrule, numbing the air and shushing the world. By now, most animals in that region had migrated south for the winter, or had burrowed into hibernation. Their horses, strong and steady as they were, did not seem to mind the cold. Rather, they seemed to enjoy the snowfall as well, with the cold beneath their hooves.

If only the snow could act as a way to freeze all of Hyrule in a sort of stasis, exactly the way that it was now. If only it could preserve the life within, freezing everyone and everything in a blissful state, unknowing and unaware of the dangers that emanated from the most central point of the country.

The roads were completely deserted as they made their way down past the Pillars of Levia towards the Kakariko Bridge. There was not a single person in sight. There was not even a lone Yiga Foot Soldier, disguised as a traveller, which was strange considering that the clan tended to frequent the roads leading up to Kakariko, hoping to catch a lone Sheikah by surprise.

As it was, there was hardly anything that could catch a lone Sheikah by surprise.

They passed over the Kakariko Bridge without much consequence, both keeping their eyes and ears open for the telltale maniacal laughter signaling a Yiga's entrance. Still, there was no laughter, no Yiga masks, and no bananas to be found. There was not a single soul in sight as they gazed across the Blatchery Plains, with the only sign of movement in the distance being of the snowflakes falling over the plains, and a single cloud of smoke, rising from a single campfire at the Dueling Peaks Stable in the distance.

And the movement of a frail Hylian, over encumbered by the weight of his disastrously large pack.

As Link and Zelda approached the Dueling Peaks Stable, they could not help but be taken aback by the lack of travellers at the stable. Much like what they had already seen in the lands outlying Fort Hateno, the stable itself was completely deserted, save for its proprietor, who was desperately nailing down the tent flaps, as though the threat in Central Hyrule was a mere windstorm, and Beedle, the travelling salesman, who was absolutely ecstatic to see a friendly face.

"Link!" Beedle waved him over, from his spot by the fire, "What are the odds, seeing each other at this stable, _again, _out of anywhere else in all of Hyrule! We must have been married in a past life!"

Somehow, Link had a feeling that he was never married to Beedle in one of his past lives. But he just smiled, patting the merchant on his back as he sat down next to him by the fire, pulling up a log for Zelda to sit on.

"It's good to see you too, Beedle," Link said in response, looking out into the empty stable, "I'm sure the owner here has seen better days for business."

"Actually, on the contrary," Beedle laughed, "In the past couple of weeks, the proprietor here has never had his place more busy! So many people coming from the north and west, fleeing the country, running for their lives! Well, they can't run the entire time, so they stop here for a bed and a hot meal."

"And you?" Zelda said, "I'm sure you've seen the threat. Aren't you going to be going that way too? You can only stay here safely for so long."

"And miss out on all of this business? I don't think so!" Beedle absolutely gushed, reaching back into his enormous pack, "People come by to this stable, and they're always looking for something to buy. Mostly arrows, some weapons, some bugs and critters for potions… by Hylia, they're just insatiable! The amount of Hearty Lizards I have sold just in the past few days is astounding!" Beedle then pulled out an assortment of goods from his pouch, "But then, more often than not, they are looking to sell everything they have on them. Something about being able to 'run faster', or whatever. It's bizarre to me: wouldn't they want to have their packs filled to the brim with all their pots and plates and lockets and boots? Well," Beedle stuffed the goods away, "One man's trash is another man's treasure!"

Link leaned in, eyeing Beedle's pack, "What's been the most interesting thing you've bought off of someone so far?"

"Oh, mostly odds and ends, but you know, quite a few families will come by and hand me a chest _full _of gems, saying that they would rather have the rupees than the gemstones in this day and age. And _I _would rather have the gems than the rupees! So it's an even trade!"

"Did they pick you clean of all of your bugs and critters, Beedle?" Link asked.

"Did you just ask me if I had somehow _run out _of critters?" Beedle asked, an incredulous look on his face, "I always have more critters to spare! It's part of my business model!"

And so with that, Link and Zelda rode away from the Dueling Peaks Stable, with parcels of bugs and critters, fit for the freezing climate of Hyrule, amongst other effects. As they left, Link took the time to say goodbye to both the proprietor of the stable and Beedle, even going as far as to embrace Beedle in a hug before departing.

It made Zelda's heart ache in ways that she had not anticipated.

From the sound of it, the two of them were going to stick their ground at the Dueling Peaks Stable, if only to be a safe haven for the last few stragglers as they made their evacuation out of Central Hyrule. She had to wonder if any of the other stable masters across Hyrule were doing the same thing. Surely not in the immediate Central Hyrule area, but perhaps beyond. Furthermore, the Dueling Peak Stable's location was strategic, as the mountainside would do well to contain much of the destruction.

However, if they were to fail, it wouldn't take long for Ganon to devastate the mountainside.

As they travelled across the Big Twin Bridge, the wind from Mount Lanayru began to blow violently around them, sending cold chills down their spines and warding off any lingering warmth that they had held onto from the campfire at the Dueling Peaks stable. Zelda held her hood tightly to her body, using her back to shield her from the winds. The Faron region would not be nearly as cold as East Necluda and Central Hyrule, she knew, though it would not be at its tropical temperatures like the last time she was there over one hundred years prior.

They turned due west towards the Dueling Peaks. Once past the mountains, they would head south once again, taking a shortcut parallel to the Hylia River and Lake Hylia, bypassing that trek of their journey all together. Zelda vaguely remembered the way: she had taken the shortcut on an excursion to the springs just after her mother had passed. The Faron region was littered with monsters and beasts, and the shortcut bypassed most of them.

Emphasis on 'most'.

Link halted, suddenly, on his horse in front of her, and she stopped abruptly, looking around to see what Link was looking at. Speaking of monsters and beasts, up ahead was a Bokoblin camp, fully resurrected with thanks to the consistent Blood Moon.

"Black Bokoblins," Link muttered, reaching for his bow and quiver, "And – for the love of Farore – a silver beast as their leader."

As Link dismounted from his horse, Zelda followed suit, reaching for her Sheikah bow and a fire arrow, "What's the plan?"

"Well, it's tough to have good strategy when all of them are near impossible to shoot down in one hit, and can knock you out in one, too," Link said, crouching behind a rock, "We're the only Hylians nearby, and though Bokoblins are dumb, black and silver ones are the smartest of the bunch. I say we let fly as many arrows as we can before they notice us, and then once they do, I'll run in with the Master Sword, and you stay back and keep shooting."

Zelda nodded wordlessly, following Link as he slowly crawled closer to the monster camp, keeping himself concealed behind rocks and boulders, as the Bokoblins all danced and screamed around their fire, their weapons laying propped up against a nearby log.

Up on a lookout post was a sentry, looking out towards Central Hyrule, eyes scanning for any threat or unwelcome visitor to their camp. As it was, the sentry had its back to them, and so they took that as their cue to nock their bows back, both aiming towards the sentry. They would knock out the sentry before the rest, to avoid them all being alerted.

Hidden in the shadows of the boulder, Link and Zelda each alternated letting their arrows fly, one regular arrow alternating with one fire arrow. The Bokoblin, as dumb as it was, could not seem to pinpoint which direction the arrows were coming, and would just as well forget all about the ordeal, as the next arrow would fly to land right between the eyes.

Oh, this Bokoblin just would not die, would it? It was a black Bokoblin – not even the strongest of the bunch – and yet, it had three arrows sticking out of its side and had caught on fire three times. Still, the damn monster stood, its slow eyes scanning the hillside, struggling as it was to find out who its attacker was and why it was hurting so bad.

Finally – _finally! –_ the Bokoblin died, evaporating in a puff of smoke, while still, the other Bokoblins snorted and danced around the fire.

Only six more to go.

The sun was beginning to go down, and soon it would be dark. It wouldn't be much longer until the Blood Moon rose over the horizon, resurrecting that very same Bokoblin once again.

They needed a better strategy.

Zelda scanned the camp before she saw the monster's weapons propped up against the log. Really, it was the weapons that packed the punch, not necessarily he Bokoblins themselves. Zelda looked to the weapons, then to the fire at the camp, and looked at Link, a mischievous look in her eyes.

She had an idea.

The Bokoblins were in a state of ignorant bliss as the Princess of Hyrule pulled back the string of her bow, a fire arrow being aimed. However, it was not at any of the six Bokoblins at the camp, but rather, at their weapons.

They would be much easier to kill if they didn't have their weapons.

She let the arrow fly, and the arrow landed true, in the middle of all of the wooden weapons, setting them all ablaze in a great big inferno. It came as no surprise to the two of them that the camp of Bokoblins noticed this, and realized where they were.

However, they really should have thought this through, as the Bokoblins ran over and picked up their now flaming weapons, and began running towards the hero and the princess.

Perhaps it was a better idea to pick their battles. So they ran.

They climbed back onto their horses with haste and sent them into a furious gallop, running their horses straight through the mob of Bokoblins. Link's horse even ran straight through the silver Bokoblin, hitting it and sending it flying towards the walls of the Dueling Peaks. This alone, wouldn't be enough to kill the Bokoblin, however, it would buy them the time that they needed to escape.

That, and it was quite satisfying to hear the Bokoblin scream as he was sent careening towards the cliffs.

Under normal circumstances, Link would have had no issues taking on a camp of Bokoblins, no matter how strong. However, he was normally by himself, and by himself, he preferred to throw caution to the wind, and would have just thrown himself into the thick of things, head on. Travelling with Zelda, however, it was not the smartest thing for him to do, no matter how capable Zelda was in a fight: it was more than just his life on the line.

Perhaps it would be in their best interest to avoid confrontation altogether until this entire nightmare was all said and done.

It didn't take long for the Bokoblins to lose sight of Link and Zelda; they weren't very fast, and preferred not to stray far from their campsite. The two of them made camp in the outskirts of Deya Lake, surrounded on two sides by the Hills of Baumer and the Popla Foothills. It was more strategic this way, to be covered by at least two sides. They built their fire in the vanishing glow of twilight, watching as the skies began to glow a deep red near the horizon: a telltale sign of the Blood Moon making its approach.

Link poked at the fire with a stick after they had finished with their supper of wolf meat and mushrooms. The immediate radius around the fire was warm, and left the grass and dirt around it warm and dry. Beyond it, however, the air was treacherous, threatening to nip harshly at their skin. No doubt, Deya Lake would begin to freeze over if the air got any colder.

This reminded Zelda of winters spent ice-skating to the east of the castle, as the Hylia River froze over. Of course, she was never allowed to go unaccompanied, and her father had always deemed it as a 'waste of time'. However, prior to her passing, her mother had always said that she had liked it. And so against her father's wishes, she went ice-skating.

Zelda leaned into Link, placing her head on his shoulder, "You seem quiet."

"I could say the same about you. What are you thinking about?"

"Ice-skating on the Hylia River," Zelda said, "Have you ever tried?"

"Not that I can remember," Link confessed, "And I never tried once I woke up."

"We should go once all of this is over."

Link only nodded, staring into the flames of the campfire, nuzzling her forehead with his cheek, "Zel, there's something I need to talk to you about."

"Link, every time you start with that preamble, you usually have something bad you have to say."

"That's because I do."

Zelda lifted her head up from Link's shoulder, meeting his eyes with her own. His eyes were downcast, hallow, and they pleaded with her in a way that she did not expect.

"What is it?" Zelda asked, her hand reaching down blindly to find his.

"I had a long conversation with Impa a couple of days ago," Link said, "before we made the connection about the powers have with the luminous stones. She reminded me that the Goddess still has a hand in what happens with her people, and that I wouldn't have received these powers from the Zonai on accident. Impa firmly believes that with these powers, we will be able to defeat Ganon once and for all, or at least banish him for another ten thousand years."

"Link, that's wonderful," Zelda said, "Impa's right: Hylia wouldn't just leave her people without a solution."

"There's more to it, though," Link said, his eyes breaking away from her to look into the fire, "Ten thousand years ago, it took all of the Zonai warriors, as well as the souls of the rest of the Zonai across Hyrule, to lock Ganon into a stasis for the next ten thousand years. It took a mass extinction event to seal him away last time. I am just one man. Though as the Goddess's chosen hero, Impa thinks I might just be enough."

Link couldn't be saying that she thought he was saying, right? No, the two of them were going to walk out of this as they had done time and time again. Zelda shook her head with a small laugh, her eyes widening as disbelief overcame her, "Link we're going to be fine, we have _always _been fine."

"Zelda," Link's voice threatened to break, though that was the only hint she got. His face was impassive, his eyes stoic, his breathing normal, albeit a little forced, "We will be fine. You'll be fine. And you'll learn to be fine without me."

"What," Zelda spat, "So you're telling me that Impa intends for you to sacrifice yourself for the greater good of Hyrule? That there is no other option? I refuse to believe that."

"You'll need to believe that because it is the only option."

"No, Link, the whole reason we are heading to the Zonai ruins is so you can hone in on the magic so you can defeat Ganon once and for all."

"The reason we are heading there is so that way I can learn the spell they had used ten thousand years ago to freeze him in a stasis," Link said, "I bet that once I focus in on the hub of the magic, I'll be able to hear the Zonai clearer and I'll be able to learn the precise spell they had used."

"This is ridiculous," Zelda whispered, wringing her hands nervously, "Remember right before we went into the Forgotten Temple, you had said almost the same thing? That you didn't think you were going to survive that? Well you did, so I don't want to hear this from you that you have to 'sacrifice yourself' to defeat Ganon."

"Technically speaking, it's still not over."

"Regardless," Zelda interrupted, giving him a pointed look, "I refuse to believe that the only way that we can win is by you sacrificing yourself to seal away Ganon for another ten thousand years. Because honestly? That doesn't sound like winning to me."

"It's not winning," Link said, "No one wins in this situation."

"So then," Zelda said, "Let's keep working to find a solution where we _do _win; where we _do _walk out of this fight alive, and with Hyrule not up in flames."

"I'm all ears if you have any suggestions."

"And _enough _with you being so nonchalant about this," Zelda snapped, "This is your life at stake, and you're acting like it doesn't matter. If you're gone, don't think that you are the only person effected by it."

"You think I _like _this solution," Link finally snapped, his head turning towards hers, his eyes cold, "Do you think I like the thought of leaving you alone in this world? Of course I don't. I, of all people, understand what it's like to lose someone you love."

It was silent for a long moment, as they stared at each other. From behind them, the Blood Moon began to rise over the horizon, molten and menacing.

"I've been meaning to tell you for a while now," Link confessed, watching as Zelda's face glowed red in the light of the moon, "Back in the ancient Zonai ruins, beneath Hyrule Castle, remember in the first trial? Where we both saw our mothers?"

Zelda nodded wordlessly, unsure of where he was going with this.

Link licked his lips, continuing, "I… It wasn't my mother that I saw. And in the aftermath, I was confused, and wasn't sure what it all meant."

"Link…"

"I saw Mipha," Link spat, a lone tear falling down his cheek, "I saw her and I felt her and it was different from when I saw her spirit in Vah Ruta. She was there, and real, and breathing, and wasn't glowing like an apparition. I spoke with her, and remembered a memory with her, from right after I had pulled the Master Sword. She cared about me, and I can't remember caring about her, or loving her, or harboring any form of affections towards her, but I felt warmth, and companionship, and longing towards her that I had never remembered. Since then, it has terrified me, because I can't remember anything about her, but I remembered these sensations. I might have loved her, and then I lost her, and I just don't know. Did I love her?"

"Oh, Link…" Zelda whispered, reaching out to touch his cheek. Link recoiled, as though she had burned him.

"Did I love her?" Link asked again, his voice breaking, and Zelda could see the pain and desperation in his eyes, "Prior to that day, I could have lived the rest of my life not thinking about her again. But then, I saw her, and remembered those _emotions _and _feelings_, but without any memory of her. She wanted to propose to me, and I can't even remember the day I met her."

"Link…" Zelda whispered, her own tears falling, as she tucked a piece of loose hair behind his ear, "I truly don't know. You were always so quiet back then, and kept to yourself, especially regarding personal matters. What I _do _know, though, is that you cared about her. You spent your summers in Zora's Domain as a child, and you knew her all your life. The two of you were friends. I can't say if you loved her the same way that she loved you, but you certainly cared about her. I wish you had told me about this earlier, instead of letting it eat you up inside. I think that it's clear to me you cared about her with how you're feeling right now."

"Yes, and now she's dead," Link said, his eyes drifting back towards the fire, "Do you see where I am going with all of this? Everyone that I have cared about has died, and you're all that I have left. There might be another solution to defeating Ganon, but I have this solution right here that does not require losing you, and so I am more than happy to take that option than to explore other, unknown, options. Any solution where you get to live is good enough for me."

"Any solution where you _don't _get to live is not good enough for me," Zelda countered, bringing her face to meet his again, "I understand the pain that you're going through. I do. You lost someone very dear to you, and you're afraid of that happening again. However, that does not mean that you simply get to cop out and sacrifice yourself for the greater good. That's not fair to any of us. That's not fair to _me," _Zelda laughed quietly, the irony bleeding off her tongue, "Really, to subject me to the same torments, O Hero of Hyrule."

Link shook his head, his lips pressing together, "I don't know what else to do."

"We fight," Zelda said, and she was back in Kakariko that second day, where Impa had said those exact words, "We fight like hell. We hold onto the people we have in our lives. And if the only way we can defeat Ganon is by sacrificing yourself, then this spell is going to be double as strong because I'm coming with you."

"Zel -"

"No: enough with you getting to be the lone hero, for once. We do this together."


	21. Chapter 21

Malice

By: dontwaitupxx

* * *

Chapter Twenty-One

* * *

The storm came in suddenly from the west, with the rain pelting down on Link and Zelda, as they fruitlessly tried to stay dry under a shallow alcove somewhere along the Farosh Hills. Though, it was tough to tell where they were, as the sheets of rain came down so hard and so fast that it was tough to see around them for any landmark to confirm their whereabouts.

Up north, in Central Hyrule and Necluda, it had been snowing, the fine, wispy snowflakes creating a thin sheet of snow upon the land. The Faron region was not immune to the effects of winter; however, it was not cold enough for that rain to be turned into snow. While it was warmer in the Faron region than up north, it was not enough to stop Link and Zelda from cringing as the cold, frigid rain hit their extremities as they both held their Hylian Hoods closer to themselves.

They had discussed, albeit briefly, whether to just continue through the pouring rain to make it to the Zonai ruins. They knew full well that they did not have the luxury of simply waiting out the storm, and they knew that they could deal with the repercussions of their actions after all of this was said and done.

Should they _have _repercussions after this was all said and done.

Since their talk the night before, with Link opening up to her about Mipha and what he had seen underneath Hyrule Castle, Zelda had held him closer, grasped him longer, and kissed him gentler. Her hero was strong, and he and her and all of Hyrule knew that, but he was also just a man, and understandably would have a breaking point given the unfeasible tasks given to them by fate. They had each other, which was more than they had in the last one hundred years.

And as dark as it sounded, it would be over soon enough, anyways.

To their right, a flash of lightning struck the hills, closer than they would have liked, and Zelda jumped involuntarily, feeling Link's grip on her shoulder tighten as they huddled together to keep warm against the brisk chill. Zelda had to wonder how there was a thunderstorm even when it was so cold. It did not seem natural or possible.

But, she supposed, stranger things had happened in this day and age.

By the time the storm finally let up and they could continue their journey to the ruins, they had already lost a couple of hours on their journey. It was strange, the sense of urgency they had, and yet leniency they had with time. It was as though time did not exist, and was not even a factor in their journey. They knew they had to get to the ruins as soon as they could to stop Ganon, and yet they knew that the battle for Hyrule would not start until they faced him back at the castle.

Ganon was quite patient, they knew. He had waited ten thousand years to fight them again in the flesh. What was another two more hours to spare?

The ground was wet beneath their feet, the dirt turned to mud and sticking to their shoes. It slowed them down considerably, but yet again, it hardly mattered in the end. Their fight with Ganon would happen when it happened. It was a bizarre way to think of things.

As they approached the outskirts of the ancient Zonai ruins, Link's arm began to glow brighter and brighter. An unintended consequence of this, however, was that it acted as a sort of beacon for the monsters that inhabited the ruins. The Zonai ruins were infested with mostly Lizalfos with the occasion Moblin in residence. When fought one or two at a time, the monsters were easy to pick off, Zelda with her Sheikah bow and Link with the Master Sword, but from time to time, they would come across a pack of Lizalfo and Moblin, and were met with the occasional scratch or gash from a Lizal Tri-Boomerang or the claws of a Moblin.

The benefit of Link's glowing arm was that it acted as way to tell them if they were getting closer or farther away from the hub of the ancient Zonai magic. The hub was certainly in the center of the ruins, it was clear to see. As they stepped off the hills and into the Damel Forest, they followed the Dracozu River as Link's arm grew brighter and brighter. They found, as they dispatched the monsters along their path, that Link's magic grew exponentially stronger, as they made their way towards the hub. Link relied less on the Master Sword and more and more on his powers, using his telekinesis to fling numerous monsters back the way they came, or freezing the very river that the Lizalfos were swimming through to get to them.

Just before Dracozu Lake, Link and Zelda found what they were looking for. It was a large ruin; partially sunken into the swamp it was built upon. The entrance into the ruin had long since been caved in and lost to time, and yet it was something that did not matter. This was the hub of all the magic, where the most magic was concentrated when they had disappeared ten thousand years prior. By accessing the magic here, at the hub, then Link would be able to access it from anywhere across Hyrule, within the network of towers and ancient civilizations.

Time seemed to completely halt as they approached the ruin. Link's arm glowed brilliantly in the dark, mythical forest. Zelda stood slightly behind Link as he approached what looked to be the caved in entrance to the ancient Zonai ruin. Gingerly – apprehensively – he held out his arm towards the ruin, his fingers splayed as he slowly stepped towards the walls of the ruin.

By now, Link was only a few steps away from the ruins. He looked over his shoulder slightly, towards Zelda, with a small smile adorning his features. It was now or never. He turned back around and faced the ruin, and took the final few steps. His fingers touched the ancient Zonai ruins, his arm glowing magnificently, before everything went white.

He soared high above Hyrule, watching in awe as the land once again, lit up with brilliant lights dotting the landscape. Only this time, it wasn't of the Ancient Sheikah's doing: no, it was the Zonai's. Across the land, ancient pillars that had been dormant for the last ten thousand years lit up in a magnificently bright green. Ruins that had not been noticed in a few millennia burst from the ground, their ancient text and magic illuminating brightly across the land once again. From three corners of the country, the Lomei Labyrinths shined brightly like beacons on the horizon.

And from the very center of the country, beneath Hyrule Castle, the ancient Zonai city shined the most striking of them all. Link watched, then, as the ancient Zonai magic swirled with the deep magenta of Ganon's malice. He watched as the two ancient forces fought for dominance, the glowing green magic swirling and cleansing - the malice oozing and burning.

It was a standstill: the malice had finally met its match, but the battle hadn't even started yet. All it would take would be one push from either side: one person to shift the scale to go either one way or the other.

Link was then transported to a plane of nothingness, and everything was silent. Everywhere around him was endless, vast white. Patting down his chest, he felt corporeal, yet he knew without a doubt he was in a dimension of the world that was certainly not Hyrule. He took a few steps forward, his feet echoing distantly throughout the endless expanse. Where was he to go? What was he to do? Beside him, his right arm did not glow in the same way that it had before. Yet, there was a sense of understanding, of knowing and control. He felt an expertise regarding his newly acquired magic he had not felt before.

He took a few more steps forward, before he stopped abruptly, feeling the weight of a pair of eyes on the back of his head. Carefully, and slowly, Link turned around, and was met with the very same Zonai warriors from ten thousand years ago that he had seen in his vision deep beneath Hyrule Castle.

The first of the warriors stepped forward, bending forward in a short, abrupt bow, "Hero of Hyrule," the warrior began, "Chosen by the Blade of Evil's Bane: the time has come for you to end what we could only temporarily hold off ten thousand years ago. The time has come for you, courageous one, to put an end to this embodiment of hatred incarnate once and for all."

Link nodded, his faced steeled, as he prepared himself to face his fate.

"Ten thousand years ago," the warrior continued, "Our plans were thwarted by the Demon King, and we were unsuccessful in our defeat of Ganon with the Princess and Hero of your past life. However, in Ganon's resurrection, the demon still grows weak. If we act with haste, there may be a way to completely eradicate the threat at large while still preserving yours and the Princess's lives."

Both his and Zelda's lives? Would that be possible? Link had been adamant that no matter what the cost, Zelda was to live. However, this was with the promise that he would not survive the battle. But if there was a way…

"There's a catch, isn't there?" Link asked, taking an involuntary step backwards in the endless plane, "How would that be possible?"

"In freezing the Demon King in a ten thousand year stasis," the warrior explained, "his soul grew weak as it still struggled to sustain itself, while still creating the Calamity; a product of hatred and malice. As such, Ganon is far weaker and far slower than he had been back in his prime ten thousand years ago. Since our failure to yourself and the Princess, we have been working feverishly to create a new spell: one that would transport Ganon not even into the future, but into another universe entirely."

"How is that possible?" Link asked.

"We Zonai have many secrets," the warrior said as an answer, "However, there could be… complications, if you would."

Ah, there was the catch, "What sort of complications?"

"This spell has been something that we of the Zonai Tribe have been cultivating for the past ten thousand years. It is an advanced skill, and one that cannot be taken too lightly. In the hands of an inexperienced spell caster, the spell may very well destroy him."

"So you're saying this spell has the potential of killing me the second I learn it," Link asked, "What makes you think that I come anywhere close to being able to learn this advanced spell?"

"It is the only way," the warrior responded, "and you are our best hope. Down in the catacombs beneath Hyrule Castle, when you first obtained the powers of the Zonai, your body accepted the magic unyieldingly. It was absorbed in a way we Zonai had not seen since the height of our civilization. You are the Hero of Hyrule, Farosh's chosen champion: if anyone in your world has the ability to harness this power, it is you."

"Isn't there a way for us to completely eradicate Ganon, without sending him to another universe? Isn't there a way for us to destroy him without casting him off as another world's problem?"

"I'm afraid there isn't," the warrior said, "This has been something that, we too, have been thinking of and cultivating for the last ten thousand years. However, Ganon's power is much too old and ancient. It is a power that is backed by a curse of an age long past, and it is not one that can simply be destroyed. Therefore, we have developed a workaround, and found a way for him to be displaced from this world entirely."

Link nodded briefly, "I understand."

"And furthermore," the warrior continued, "Should you not choose to accept this spell from us, then all of Hyrule will be doomed anyways, and you will die alongside the Princess and all of your people as Ganon sweeps control over the land once and for all. There truly isn't another option. This is the only way."

"Very well, then," Link said, taking a step forward towards the Zonai warriors, "I accept, and I am willing and ready to learn this spell from you."

The warrior nodded once, before his tribe all spread out, encircling around Link within the endless plane. They held their hands close to their chests, their fingertips and thumbs pressing against each other with their hands in a diamond shape. They slowly circled Link as they stretched their arms outwards towards Link, and Link watched in amazement as both arms – not just the one – glowed a magnificent illuminating green, the magic swirling and billowing in waves.

Before long, the endless white plane was encased in that very same swirling green magic, surrounding Link from all sides. Link took in a large breath, bracing himself for what was yet to come. He had no idea what to make of it. Would it hurt? Would it be quick? Would he even realize that it had happened?

Had it already happened?

Alas, it had not, but on that thought, the Zonai warriors stopped circling Link and turned inwards to face him, their left arm outstretched with the hand splayed, while the right hand gently pressed against the center of their chest. Link looked down to see his right arm glowing brilliantly, in a way that he had never seen it glow.

He hoped that this was a good sign.

The warrior that he had conversed with then muttered something in a language that he did not understand, and the other warriors repeated the very same phrase. Then, in unison, all of the warriors took a step back with their right leg, bracing themselves, before stepping forward and pressing forward with their right hand, the magic cascading forwards and onwards, before Link was encased in the magic from all sides.

It was at this moment that Link understood.

It was simple, really; the spell they were sharing with them. Why hadn't they thought of it before? Now that he knew it, it was all really just second nature to him. This spell, along with the knowledge that came with it, solidified Link's understanding of the Zonai magic. No longer was he a novice when it came to understanding and controlling the magic. Now, the magic bent to his will, easy to facilitate and manipulate. It was a wonder they hadn't thought of this spell sooner.

Though, in retrospect, it had taken the Zonai warriors ten thousand years to create and perfect this art.

It was over as quickly as it had begun. The magic ceased its swirling around him, and the haziness went away to reveal the Zonai warriors all surrounding him still in the white, endless plane. Link looked around, in the eyes of each of the warriors, the question clear in his eyes.

"So… did it work?"

At this, the warriors all laughed, doubling over on themselves as Link stared at them. The first of them stood up first, stepping forward to place a hand on Link's shoulder.

"You absorbed that magic better than any warrior I had ever come across back in my life, and yet you still ask us if that worked?"

Link smiled, then, clapping the warrior on the back, "How will I know what to do when the time comes?"

"When the time comes, you'll know," the warrior said, "In all of your lives, when the time has come, you have always known what to do. That has been what has always made you the Hero. Trust in your Goddess, for she has given you this task for this very reason. She would not have given it to you if you could not do it."

"And the Princess," Link started, "Zelda… what of her? Where should she be during this attack on Ganon?"

"By your side, as she always has been," the Zonai warrior said, "You forget the way the Tri-Force works, don't you? So long as you and the Princess are always together, evil will never reign over Hyrule. It's how it always has been, and how it always will be. This attack on Ganon will not be as simple as walking to him and casting the spell. Ganon has been the definition of power since time immemorial. He will have his minions fighting along side him. However, he is still weak, and it is nothing that you and the Princess have not undertaken before."

"I understand," Link said, bowing his head to the warriors.

"Very good," the Zonai warrior bowed back, "Now, Hero of Hyrule, it is time that you head back to your land. Time is of the essence, and as you return to your world, you are to head straight away to the Hyrule Fields, where Ganon awaits your return. Be courageous and wise as you initiate this fight. Trust in yourself and in the Princess. The two of you were born for this, and you were born to win this fight. This has been ten thousand years in the making, and it will all start and end with the two of you."

"Thank you," Link whispered.

"No, thank you, Hero," the warrior said, "For finishing what we started ten thousand years ago: for putting an end one and for all to the Demon King's tyranny. For finishing what we could not. And now, we of the Zonai can finally rest, knowing that our legacy will live on. Farewell, Hero."

"Farewell," Link said, though he was already being transported back, back to Hyrule, back to the Zonai Ruins, back to the Princess.

It took much longer than he had anticipated, and by the time he came to, it was already dark in the ruins, the stars from the night sky shining down on him benevolently. Around him, the air was cold and murky. He was lying on his back, with a thin blanket from his bedroll placed over him. Not much farther away from him, Zelda had made camp, and a fire was roaring, with a soup roaring on the fire.

Gingerly, Link lifted himself onto his elbows and sat up, looking over to his right to where his Princess was meticulously stirring the pot of soup. She hadn't yet noticed that he had come to. In this moment, Link chose just to admire the way that the Princess's brow was slightly scrunched as she seasoned the soup to her liking. He took this time to admire the way that the light of the flames danced off of her body in the shadows of the ruins. He took this time to admire the way that she was here, with him, and that from the word of the Zonai warriors, she would continue to be here, with him.

It took quite the weight off of his shoulders.

Link stretched his shoulders backwards, cracking his back, and it was that moment that Zelda looked up from her work at the fire to see her hero finally awake, after what had been hours of being gone to the world.

He had half expected her to run over and climb into his lap, but she surprised him when she stayed exactly where she was, letting a small smile adorn her face, "Were you able to access the hub of the Zonai magic while you were away?" Zelda asked, her eyes casting downwards to her soup.

"I was," Link replied, "and more than that, as well. I was able to speak with the Zonai tribe, in a plane of the world between this and the afterlife."

"Oh?" Zelda asked, her interest piqued as she looked up from the soup, inching towards him, "What happened there?"

"They taught me a spell," Link replied, "One that would remove Ganon from this world permanently. Their stasis spell had been used ten thousand years ago as a last ditch effort, and was not able to eradicate the threat completely – only postpone it. This way, Ganon gets sent with a one way ticket to another world that is not our own."

"Another world…" Zelda mused, "But then, wouldn't that just subject the other world to the wrath of Ganon? That world does not deserve to be afflicted by Ganon and his power hungry ways."

"Perhaps," Link agreed, "However, it's the only solution we have, and the only way to get rid of him completely. And who knows? Maybe Ganon will be sent to a world that is just as evil and malicious as him."

"A world as evil and malicious as him?" Zelda joked, "Oh, Ganon would just be at peace there, wouldn't he? He would be absolutely miserable!"

The two of them laughed and joked for the rest of the evening, enjoying their soup under the stars deep within the ancient Zonai ruins. By morning the two of them packed up their camp, and had begun their trek north, making their way north towards the Hyrule Fields and Hyrule Castle. Rather than make the trek through the Farosh Hills and up by Deya Village, the two opted for the safer, and more picturesque route by taking the Bridge of Hylia north.

They had once had plans to stop back in Kakariko Village prior to their final assault against Ganon, but they were well stocked with arrows and supplies, and there really was no time like the present. Though Ganon was patient, and had been waiting for ten thousand years, Link was not, and did not even want to wait one more day before casting this spell on the Demon King to send him far away from Hyrule for all eternity.

The way back was quiet: peaceful, almost. It held a sense of foreboding neither of the two could ignore and a sense of dread neither of the two wanted to acknowledge. It was bizarre, in a way, how serene the way back to Hyrule Castle was. If they just closed their eyes and listened to the sounds of the wild, they could very well believe that they were back in the wild, one hundred years prior, and that all of this had just been some horrible and malicious dream.

In a way, though, some dreams had the ability to come true.

The Bridge of Hylia was home to a few Lizalfos and not much else, which were easily dispatched. Despite the wear and tear over the years, and the very obvious damage from the Guardians from where they had tried to destroy the bridge, the Great Bridge was still magnificent in her own right. She had stood the test of time, surviving from dates all the way back to the era of Twilight. If she had survived the blasts of the Guardians, then the Bridge of Hylia would most certainly survive whatever collateral damage came from their fight against Ganon.

And oh: Zelda could not wait to restore the Great Bridge to her former glory.

They finally passed Lake Hylia and stepped into the outskirts of Central Hyrule. To their right was the Great Plateau, and to the left were the Dueling Peaks, still mighty in their own right. Just up ahead was Hyrule Castle, elevated atop the ancient Zonai city, the green swirling Zonai magic clashing violently with the oozing magenta malice.

Then, a sound rang all across Hyrule, like a warning gong. It sounded once, twice, then three times, and in that moment, they knew that it was meant for them. The ground around them shook, the world shivering with anticipation. They looked on ahead, and gasped at what they saw.

Up ahead, in the center of the plains where Hyrule Castle stood, a figure stepped out of the ancient Zonai ruins for the first time in over ten thousand years. They were still far away from the castle, and yet the figure was massive, and unmistakable. The last Link and Zelda had seen him, his flesh had been rotten, his bones protruding, his hair disintegrating. Now, however, he stood tall and mighty, his muscles flexing as he stood to his full height, and even from their distance, his golden eyes bore straight through them, bearing and intensity neither of the two had anticipated.

Ganon stepped onto the grass in the Hyrule Plains. As he stood, the grass around him turned a malicious magenta, seeping and burning. From there, the malice spread, covering every inch of grass in the Hyrule Plains and beyond, until all of the world was seeped in malice, oozing and burning.

Ganon was back.


	22. Chapter 22

Malice

By: dontwaitupxx

* * *

Chapter Twenty-Two

* * *

For the briefest of seconds, courage evaded him. Link had every intention of running, of grabbing Zelda's hand and making it for the Dueling Peaks, to Kakariko Village, to anywhere else. He had every intention of fleeing, of choosing her life over the lives of everyone else in Hyrule, because there was not a life worth living if she was not there with him.

The last time he had made this very same decision, the circumstances were similar – one hundred years prior, as they had stood in the center of Castle Town, by the fountain in the square. As Calamity Ganon had risen from Hyrule Castle once again, the pig demon had roared, trembling against the very foundations of the town and shaking Link to the bone. Before he had even known what he was doing, Zelda's hand was clasped in his – his grip like iron – and they were running and running and running. The memories all came rushing back to him as he locked eyes with Ganon from across the Hyrule Fields, as he stood grinning at them.

Now, her hand was placed in his again, except this time, Zelda gave it a little squeeze: a firm reassurance. That was all that he needed for him to muster up his courage once again. This time, things _were _different. This time, they were not vastly unprepared, with little understanding of the ancient Sheikah technology, and undiscovered sacred powers. This time, all of that was stripped down, and there was just Link, and just Zelda, and just Ganon: the way it had always been intended.

But of course, Ganon had a few tricks up his sleeve.

They were still far, far away from where Ganon stood, just outside of Castle Town on the Sacred Grounds, the ancient Zonai city and Hyrule Castle looming. Yet still, they could see him so clearly, see his movements so vividly, and thus they saw as Ganon moved his right arm up. With a flick of his wrist, malice spewed from his hand, and enveloped the field before them. The malice began to take shape, oozing and curdling beneath his will, as the faint outlines of his minions materialized.

Bokoblins of different colors and sizes awoke with a snarl-like cry that would have awakened even the deepest of slumbers on the other side of the Dueling Peaks. There must have been hundreds of them, all summoned and materialized with just the flick of his wrist. The Zonai warriors had said that he was still much weaker than he had been ten thousand years ago. Somehow, that didn't seem possible. Ganon's laughter reverberated deeply over the shrill screeching of his monsters, and with a snap of his fingers, the Bokoblins heads all snapped with a sickening crunch towards Link and Zelda: their black, beady eyes empty and ravenous for blood.

The Bokoblins ran towards the hero and the princess like a stampede: running over their brothers and comrades if they were too slow, embracing chaos as their main form of power. Link held his right arm out, his magic glowing brilliantly, with the Master Sword down by his side in his left hand – just in case. Zelda similarly, held her Sheikah bow taut with a bomb arrow nocked.

"Hold your fire," Link breathed, glancing tentatively at Zelda, "On my mark."

She nodded, never once breaking eye contact with the hordes of Bokoblins. The two held still, as the Bokoblins approached closer and closer to them. The silver Bokoblins were naturally faster than the red ones, and thus they were leading the way, their pitch-black swords raised high in the air, treacherous and deceitful.

By now, there were only about one hundred meters between the two of them and the first silver Bokoblin leading the pack. Their cries were deafening now, shrill enough that Zelda thought it could make her ears bleed. She held her bow tightly, aiming her bow directly at the forehead of the first salivating Bokoblin. She spared a glance towards Link, who in response took a step forward.

"Now!"

Zelda let her arrow fly, and heard with a resonating ping as the arrow struck home on the silver Bokoblin, setting him alight in fire and throwing him backwards into his comrades. Link splayed his fingers outwards, and in a swish of his arm, sent the entire army of Bokoblins flying back across the Hyrule Fields, where Ganon still stood, still grinning. Link closed his fist, and instantly, the fire on that very first Bokoblin spread outwards, alighting the hoard in a ring of fire, as they all flew back, back, back. The flames caught on the Hyrule Fields, creating a great inferno with an updraft that would have put Revali to shame.

The Bokoblins all vanished in a cloud of smoke, dissipating through the updraft, until they disappeared all together.

Ganon, however, was only just getting started.

His fingers twirled, like a tornado, and from the fire and the smoke, raised monsters that most closely resembled Moblins, except these monsters were on fire, the flames dancing off them in a malicious jig. These monsters did not approach. They stood their ground, the fire expanding and growing in the palms of their hands. Link and Zelda only had a split second to look at each other in realization before they both took off running.

Not a second later, the ground from which they had once stood erupted in flames, the inferno flying high like a malicious flag over the fields.

Link held his arm out and tried to push the Moblins back – however, it seemed fruitless. There was nothing solid to push back on.

"Zelda," Link gasped, as they ran, narrowly avoiding the flames igniting their path, "I can't push them back!"

Zelda looked out across the fields, switching her fire arrows to ice arrows, "That's because they're made purely of fire! We've got to fight fire with ice!"

Link sheathed the Master Sword and pulled out his bow, nocking an ice arrow and letting them fly. The fire Moblins were extinguished upon contact, nothing remaining, except the small fires in their wake on the Hyrule Fields.

However, there were still so many of them, and only two of them. Link wasn't sure how long it would take for them to take them all down while constantly avoiding their balls of fire. It was much more likely that they were to vastly outnumbered and overwhelmingly outmatched. Not to mention, he did not think he had enough ice arrows for all of them.

However, he wouldn't end up needing them.

From the east, there was a cry, as nearly fifty ice arrows flew true, striking every last fire Moblin down where they stood. Zelda gasped, as she saw figures approach from the Hylia River. It was the Zora, with the once young Prince Sidon, now fully grown, leading the assault.

"Sidon!" Link said, as the Zora approached, "What are you doing here? Did Impa call upon you for reinforcements?"

"Lady Impa?" Prince Sidon asked, "From Kakariko? Goodness, no. We came of our own accord. We saw as all of Hyrule turned red, and came to investigate. Currently, all of Zora's Domain is tainted red. We made haste along the Zora River, and cut through the Lanayru Wetlands when we saw the battle going on here," Prince Sidon then turned towards Zelda, "Your majesty – it is truly an honor to see you once more!"

"Likewise," Zelda said, before pulling her bow as Ganon moved to flick his wrist once more, "However, perhaps we will have the time to chat and catch up once all of this is said and done?"

"Yes, of course," Prince Sidon said, now all business, "How can we assist?"

Link pointed up towards the castle, where Ganon was still grinning, twirling balls of malice between his fingers, "That's him. That's Ganon. He's calling up his minions to fight for him. We need to fight through his monsters, so that way Zelda and I have a clear path to him."

Prince Sidon flashed a brilliant smile, slamming his spear down into the ground twice, "You can count on the Zora to aid you once more! We will annihilate him!" Then, he turned towards his army, "For Mipha!"

"For Mipha!" The Zora army roared, raising their spears and bows high in the air.

Suddenly, the smile on Ganon's face vanished, and before him, was an army of Lizalfos, armed with sharpened spears and shock arrows. Amongst them were red mane Lynels, clear carbon copies of the one that had terrorized the Zora on Shatterback Point. The fear was evident on Prince Sidon's face immediately, however, he hid behind it with a battle cry, as he and the rest of the Zora charged into battle.

Link and Zelda ran in as well, loading up their bows with bomb arrows, ice arrows, fire arrows – whatever they still had left. Link ran towards a flaming patch of grass and threw open his paraglider, soaring high into the sky from the updraft. He then nocked an arrow in his bow midflight, and felt time bend slowly around him, as he focused and let fly a bomb arrow, landing true on the Lynel and the surrounding Lizalfos.

The Lizalfos went flying, but the Lynel did not budge – he merely doubled over on himself, recoiling from the attack. Link glided down from his paraglider onto the back of the Lynel, whipping the Master Sword out and thrusting it deep between the shoulder blades of the red mane Lynel. Instantly, the Lynel went berserk, and Link held onto the pommel of his sword for dear life as the Lynel attempted to viciously buck him from his back.

Then, the Lynel froze; it's eyes unseeing, as it began teetering off towards the left. Link had only a moment to eject himself from the back of the Lynel before he was crushed beneath its torso. An ice arrow was the culprit, sticking out of the Lynel's chest. Link looked up to see a Zora was to thank, his bow still up as he loaded another arrow. Link nodded once towards the Zora, before fetching his sword from the back of the Lynel, running into battle once more.

Zelda, on the other side of the field, found herself back to back with Prince Sidon himself, with a hoard of Lizalfos surrounding them.

The pair made a pretty good team she had to admit. The last time she had seen Prince Sidon, he was just a little guppy, only a fraction of the height that he was now. As it was, he completely towered over her, nearly twice her height, as they dispatched the various monsters around them: she with her bow, he with his trident.

"Your trident," Zelda gasped, knocking a Lizalfo back with the end of her bow, "It looks awfully similar to Mipha's trident. Is it a replica?"

"Not quite," Prince Sidon grunted, skewering a Lizalfo through, the trident coming back with dark, black sludge, "We gifted the Lightscale Trident to Link after he freed Vah Ruta – it's what my sister would have wanted. This trident," he stabbed a Lizalfo and twisted, "was commissioned as a tribute to my sister. To fight for her when she no longer can."

With the last Lizalfo speared down, Zelda turned towards the Zora Prince, "Your sister must be proud."

"She is proud," Prince Sidon confirmed, "Of all of us. Including you. She always had faith in you."

"As have we."

Zelda turned, and was face to face with what must have been Urbosa in her youth. There were stark differences between the two women, but the similarities came more from the way she held herself with such esteem: a true leader of her people, despite her age. The Gerudo Chief was armed with a terrifying looking scimitar, her eyes narrowing as she oversaw the battlefield, with the overwhelming amount of Lizalfo carcasses littering the field, turning to dust. Her tribe of women stood behind her, each one poised and ready for battle, their scimitars and spears sharpened to a fine point.

"We watched the world turn red, and knew we had to make haste," the Gerudo Chief said, "I am Riju, Chief of the Gerudo. And you: you must be Princess Zelda, no doubt. You are exactly how the late Chief Urbosa described you in her diary."

"Thank you for coming," Zelda said, her eyes watery at Riju's words, "We've really only just begun our assault against Ganon. I would be honored to have you fight alongside me."

"As I would to fight alongside you," Riju said, turning back towards her women, "For us, this fight is personal. It has always been said that Ganon originated from the Gerudo Tribe, before he went astray. We, women, brought him into this world," Riju turned towards Ganon, then, her voice a war cry, "and we will take him _out!"_

The Gerudo Women roared, their scimitars and spears held high in the air. They ran, advancing towards the center of the Hyrule Fields. The way they fought and moved was more akin to a vicious dance, deadly and lethal with each synchronized step. By now, they were in the very center of the fields, just almost to the Hyrule Garrison. Around them, were the destroyed Guardians from the Calamity attack. They seemed to be a relic of an age long past. How long had they been fighting this new threat, since the dawn of the new era? It couldn't have been that long, and yet it felt like a lifetime had past.

As they made their way up towards the Sacred Grounds, Zelda finally caught up with Link, who took the moment of stillness in the battle to wrap his arms around her. He leaned in, his lips searing and desperate, as though this kiss might just be their last. Zelda pressed her forehead against his, her warm breath fanning across his lips, their noses mingling, their hands in each other's hair.

"We're nearly there!" Zelda whispered, her smile erupting in giggles, "Everything is going well so far."

"Everything is going well," Link muttered, "Which makes me nervous that it's going to get worse."

"Ganon is on the defensive," Zelda said, "Even the Zora and Gerudo came to help. Link, we can do this!"

They pulled apart, looking off into the distance where Ganon stood, now laughing maniacally. He raised his hand in the air once again, his fingers twirling around his malice.

Hinoxes, materialized out of thin air. Zelda had to take a step back, out of fear and possibly a bit of wonderment. She had never seen a Hinox quite so large. It towered over her, blocking out the hazy light from the lowering sun. Not even the one that she _couldn't _see in the ancient Zonai city was quite this large. It was fascinating. It was terrifying.

It was enough to make her want to grab Link by the arm and run for the high hills.

What was it Link had said about things getting worse?

However, she stood her ground. They were of the blue and black variety: clear reflections on what they would make of their enemies should they make it out of this alive. However, they were also slow and dumb, and it was very easy to gain distance from them to rain arrows upon them. Up lose battle with a sword by yourself was suicide at best. However, every adventurer and scholar knew that the Hinox weak point was at its eye.

And boy, did Link and Zelda make quite the adventurer and scholar duo.

Zelda pulled her bow back, this time with a regular arrow. It made no sense to use any other arrow, especially when she had a partner to go in for the offensive. She held the bow taut, waiting as the Hinox noticed her and began making its languid advancement, before she let go her arrow: straight into the bulging eye of the Hinox.

The Hinox's roar shook the very foundations of Hyrule, and even more so as it fell to the ground, the vibrations of its fall sending Zelda toppling. Link then ran in with the Master Sword in hand while the beast was incapacitated, slashing all the while. However, all good things come to an end, as the monster then stretched onto its two legs, with its one eye focused in sharply on her knight.

How dare he.

Zelda then switched her arrows to fire arrows. That Hinox wouldn't dare lay a finger or a hand or a beefy arm on her knight, so long as she was alive to stop it. She aimed for the eye again, and was satisfied with a resonating ping. The Hinox cried out once more, dropping down in agony as it clawed at its eye, in an attempt to halt the piercing pain.

Link went to move in with the Master Sword once more, but was stopped by a trembling in the ground beneath him, threatening to dislodge him from his stance. It felt like it was coming from all around him yet nowhere else. He steadied himself, his arms placed beside him as he struggled to find where the earthquake was coming from.

The next second answered his question.

From the high hills to the northwest came the Gorons, rolling as they do across the Thims Bridge and through the shallow waters of the Lanayru Wetlands. Then, they were on the fields, gaining traction and momentum as they made their way towards the center of the Hyrule Fields. The frontrunner, specifically, with a red halo-like haze around him, bulldozed the Hinox in front of them to the ground, his corpse rising from the ground in thin, wispy ashes.

The frontrunner was trembling, even still rolled into a little ball with his red halo-like haze around him, for seconds even after it was all said and done. One of his brothers leaned inwards slightly, a benevolent smile on his face.

"Uh, Yunobo… you did it! You can come out now!"

Yunobo, the Goron in question, slowly unrolled out of his ball, the haze dissipating from around him, as he looked around, noticing the monster he had crushed had all but vanished in his assault. His fist thrust into the air, a pleased and victorious smile on his face.

"You are a descendant of Daruk," Zelda said, smiling, "That was Daruk's Protection there, wasn't it? And that scarf around your neck… you remind me so much of him."

Yunobo smiled bashfully, "And you must be her Majesty… gosh, I never thought I would ever get to meet royalty… it's an honor to meet you"

"The honor is all mine."

"We saw the sky turn red, and knew something was wrong," Yunobo said, "So we came down to help in any way that we could."

Then, a clap on the Hyrule Fields.

Monsters began to appear startlingly close to them, as they had already crossed half of the Hyrule Fields. As they began to form and their colors appeared, Zelda gasped.

Bokoblins. Moblins. Lizalfos. All of the silver variety.

Zelda pulled out her bow once more, nocking an arrow, "Help us take down these monsters. Link and I have to get to Ganon."

Yunobo nodded once, and together, they made their way towards the center of the battlefield, where the bulk of the monsters were materializing.

Link unsheathed the Master Sword, his right arm glowing brilliantly. Zelda nocked a bomb arrow, getting ready to aim.

Then, she saw what looked to be small black dots on the horizon.

They were coming from the northwest – the dots growing bigger and bigger before they began swirling throughout the sky – taking shape and form.

It was the Rito.

They dove in from the skies, their arrows nocked with two bomb arrows each. The Zora and Gerudo forces retreated only temporarily as the Rito rained their bomb arrows over the monsters. There was a silence, then, before they hit home, and all of Hyrule had only a moment to brace and prepare themselves.

The ground shivered with the intensity of the explosions. The sounds were deafening, producing a faint ringing in Zelda's ears. If her ears were not bleeding yet, they were now. She picked herself off of the ground – when had she fallen over? – and went to grab her Sheikah bow. However, in a moment of panic, she realized that she no longer had it on her person. It was gone – lost somewhere on the battlefield in the wake of the explosions. Without her bow, she only had her small dagger, and against these silver monsters, she wasn't sure if she would be able to stand her ground.

But then, she found it.

It lay just a few meters away. The exquisitely crafted wood was splintered, fragments of it broken apart, and rendered useless. Zelda felt a pang of sorrow towards her first real weapon. It was a lovely bow, which aimed impeccably sharp. She would be hard pressed to find another bow like that again.

She held the damaged weapon in her hands. It had saved her life countless times. More importantly, it had saved Link's life countless times. It had been with her since the very beginning, since that fateful day in Kakariko Village when they first began their preparations to make their way towards the Forgotten Temple. It felt like it was so long ago, though in retrospect, it couldn't have been any longer than a few weeks.

Then, a wing on her shoulder, and she looked up. Behind her was a Rito, with impossibly long white and navy feathers. He bore a scar on his left cheek, and in his wing, had a skillfully crafted Rito bow, adorned in various ribbons.

"For you, your majesty," the Rito said, "I think you'll find that you need it more than I do."

Zelda grasped the bow carefully, her delicate fingers wrapping around it, "Thank you. It's beautiful… it reminds me so much of the one Revali wielded."

"That's because it was his doing that ushered in a renaissance with the bow," the Rito replied, "The name's Teba, your majesty."

"It's an honor to meet you, Teba," Zelda said, her eyes shining at the bow, "Without your bow then, what will you do? What will you do then, during this fight?"

"Why, I thought it was obvious," Teba replied, waving his arm, "Take both you and Link straight to Ganon myself, while we hold off his minions."

Zelda's eyes widened, as she realized that, ready or not, it was time. They were as ready as they were going to be. Numbly, Zelda nodded, and made eye contact with Link, who had just single-handedly defeated a silver Bokoblin and was running over towards her, the question clear on his face.

"It's time," Zelda whispered, and even Link got that same numb look on his face that she must have had, "Teba here is kind enough to fly us up to the Sacred Grounds, where Ganon is."

Link nodded, his hand naturally catching hers and giving it a little squeeze, before they climbed onto Teba's back. With little preamble, the Rito took off, making the small flight towards the Sacred Grounds with the two Hylians in tow, where Ganon stood, his eyes never faltering from them, his smile growing more and more malicious.

They jumped off of the Rito's back and their feet landed on the broken stonework of the Sacred Grounds. Teba did not pause in his flight, soaring back towards the battlefield. His fight was not with Ganon. It was a fight for the hero and the princess.

Link and Zelda stepped forward, Link slightly in front. Link had his right hand outstretched, his arm glowing magnificently bright so close to the ancient Zonai city. The Master Sword was held by his side in his left hand, ready at a moment's notice. Zelda stood just barely behind him, and to the side, her Rito bow pulled taut, a sharpened arrow nocked.

And Ganon…

Ganon was clapping.

His hands slowly came together, each sound reverberating deeply, as though they were in an enclosed space and not in an open field. Around them, the sounds of the fighting dulled, until they could scarcely hear them. Yes, this fight was to be just with the three of them, that much was certain. It was the way things had always been, and always will be.

"Now then," Ganon laughed, his hands ceasing altogether, "That was quite a show that you two put on back there. It was just the two of you – but then, all of your allies came in to help. It's really quite… touching, I must say."

"All of these people are here to fight you," Link said, his voice low, "They came of their own accord, because they know they need to do whatever it takes to bring you down."

"Yes, yes, I'm sure that they have the best of intentions at heart," Ganon mused, "Still, it's a shame that their sacrifices will be in vain."

"Give up Ganon," Zelda said, pulling her bow tighter, "It clear that you are both out numbered and outmatched."

"On the contrary," Ganon hissed, any benevolence gone, "It is you that are both outnumbered and outmatched. I can call upon an infinite amount of my followers to fight for me. However, last I checked, you mere mortals are quite finite.

"This fight has been a long time coming," Ganon continued, as he began swirling two small pools of malice in his hand, "and luckily, the two of you did not disappoint. You put up a fight, however pointless it may be, and because of that, it makes my victory all the more satisfying."

"What makes you think you've won?" Link said, "When are you going to understand that you will never win? You've lost, Ganon. The battle is over."

"History is bound to repeat itself for those who refuse to learn," Ganon drawled, "How can I be losing if I keep coming back, again and again? You keep _winning _and you keep _defeating _me, but how can that be if I keep coming back? I'm a very patient man. I have waited for millennia, for this moment. The cycle continues, the reincarnation continues, and I will always be there, waiting for you to slip up; waiting for you to make a mistake. In fact, it seems that you've already made a mistake."

"And what's that?" Link breathed, not daring to move a muscle.

"Leaving me an opening," Ganon grinned, before he pulled his arm back, the swirls of malice in it growing, before he released it across the Sacred Grounds. Link watched in slow motion, much like he had watching the hero and the princess of tens of thousands of years ago, in the catacombs of the ancient Zonai city. He watched as the malice flew, faster and faster, and was unable to move fast enough before the malice hit home, hitting Zelda squarely in the chest.


	23. Chapter 23

Malice

By: dontwaitupxx

* * *

Chapter Twenty-Three

* * *

Everything else faded away.

Link had only a moment to catch her before Zelda crumbled to the ground beside him. The malice was oozing, and beginning to burn away at the fabric around her chest and neck. He must have screamed – he must have, for his throat was raw and his eyes were blurring – but he heard nothing over the shrill ringing that was blaring through his ears. The world spun viciously around him, his knees buckling as he fell beside her. He clutched her in his arms as she gasped and shivered.

He thought back desperately to what he had seen deep in the catacombs beneath Hyrule Castle. With the Princess and Hero of another era. She had been struck then, too. What had the hero done then? Surely she had survived, for Hylia's bloodline had not been eradicated that day. What could he do? What could _they_ do?

The malice was festering, and Zelda's eyes were fading, her lids threatening to fall closed, "No, no, no," Link whispered, his words a desperate plea, just barely audible, "Zelda, stay with me. Keep your eyes open, we'll find a way to fix this, don't worry."

He felt that if he stopped speaking, the void would answer for him. Thus, he didn't stop, his words an everlasting monologue, until he felt a faint, delicate hand grip his, and was met with glassy, beautiful, unfocused, perfect emerald eyes.

Oh, he would do anything if only to keep those eyes open even a moment longer.

"Link," she whispered, and Link felt his stomach clench at just how faint and weak her voice was. He nodded quickly, bringing his head in close to hers, feeling the malice radiating off of her, "Go," Zelda said, her fingers intertwining with his, "You have to end this. I'll be fine, don't worry."

"Zel," Link's voice broke, a tear falling down towards their entwined hands, "There's no world living in without you. We were supposed to do this together."

"And that's why you've got to finish this," Zelda whispered, a small smile tugging at the corners of her lips, "So we have a world to live in. Together."

"I'll take care of her," Teba was suddenly right next to the two of them, replacing Link's desperate hands with his own, steady wings, "We need to get her away from here."

Link nodded, his nerves instantly steeled, "You'll keep her safe. You'll protect her," It was not a question. It was not up for negotiation.

"With my life," Teba promised, before looking over Link's shoulder, "As it stands, I think you still have some business to take care of."

Feeling Ganon's eyes burning into his back, Link nodded once, as Teba scooped the tiny Princess up in his arms, and placed her on his back, with her arms wrapped around his shoulders, "Hold on tight for just a moment, Princess."

Link etched the small smile Zelda gave him permanently in his mind, as their eyes locked for just the briefest of seconds. Then, like that moment, she was gone, being flown far, far away from the fight that was still ringing around him.

All that was left was to deal with Ganon.

Ganon…

Link slowly turned around, spinning the Master Sword in his left hand, his right arm blinding. Ganon stood just before him, a deep, menacing laugh reverberating from him, all across the Hyrule Fields.

"Now then," Ganon whispered, a malicious grin coiling his lips upwards, "You really should be more careful. It's been quite some time since I have gotten to fight against you in the flesh, and I must say, you've grown quite sloppy since our last encounter."

"That was low," Link said, stepping closer, "Even for you. Your fight is with me, not her."

"On the contrary," Ganon said, "My fight is with both of you. She would have only gotten in the way. It's better not to delay the inevitable, don't you think?"

"You're not going to get away with what you just did," Link whispered, each word piercing and sharp, "This fight… it's getting old, isn't it?"

"Ah yes, something the two of us can finally agree on," Ganon said, as a massive claymore began to materialize in his right hand, "It is getting old. It's about time that we ended this…

He stepped forward.

"_Once _and for _all."_

As it was, with emotions heighted and nerves frayed, Link was the one that made the first move. He moved in with the Master Sword, his aim high, and lunged towards Ganon's open side. Ganon stepped forward, and in a flash, his claymore had lowered, in an effortless parry.

Where once the fighting all around Link had been muted, it came back with a roar. Yet, while it was very clearly evident that monsters and allies were fighting and dropping alike, none of that mattered as Link dove forward with the Master Sword. The Sword glowed blue, then a mysterious green as Link gripped the sword in both hands. His sword met Ganon's claymore in a vicious glissade. As Link pushed forward, Ganon staggered backwards.

"Impressive," Ganon said, his nose twitching as he lunged towards Link's open side. He glanced at the Master Sword, "I must say, I do admire your new… ability, there. What is it? Powers stolen straight from that extinct Zonai Tribe?"

"It was a gift," Link replied, parrying Ganon's claymore with his own, "Though it shouldn't be so unfamiliar to you. You were very well acquainted with it for quite some time."

"Indeed," Ganon seethed, pulling back his sword briefly, "And yet what good did its power do, if I am right here, in the flesh, here in Hyrule?"

"I never said its power was finished."

"Though, it would seem that this fight is," Ganon whispered, his eyes glowing bright red as he looked up, behind Link.

The Blood Moon was something that Link would be quite pleased to never have to see again. It roared over the mountaintops, oozing dark red. Ganon breathed in the cool, midnight air, and sighed.

Ganon's hand swirled in the air, as his malice imbedded itself to his hand. With a snap, the malice flew across the Hyrule Fields, and imbedded itself deep into the ground. From the ground, Stalkoblins, Stalkoblins, and Stalizalfos rose, their bones snapping and cracking together with each jarring movement.

And in the very center of them all, rose a Stalnox that rivaled Hyrule Castle.

"If you surrender now," Ganon said, his eyes turning towards the fields, where his minions just about outnumbered their allies, "You very well much just be able to spare their lives. And how about your dear princess, hmm? You know that I can manipulate my malice on her. You know I can make the pain stop. All you need to do is say the word."

His blood ran cold, as he considered Ganon's words. It was tempting, Link had to admit. Link was ready to give up everything, to sacrifice himself if he had to, if it meant that Zelda lived. The mere thought of a world without her smile and her passion sent Link's stomach careening downwards, and chilled himself to the bone. A world with no Zelda was a world without sunshine, a world without water.

A world without sweet, delicate blue flowers, thriving.

"You know, she _can _still live."

But any world where Ganon ruled over all was a world not worth living in.

With a shout, Link lunged towards Ganon again. This time, Link was rewarded, and a small smirk materialized on his face as his blade connected with Ganon's cheek. The wound was small; shallow, as Ganon had stepped back when his blade did not come up fast enough.

A small drop of blood trailed its way down Ganon's cheek, almost unnoticeable against his dark, grey skin. It would have almost looked as though Ganon had barely noticed it, had his eyes not betrayed him, his bright red eyes sharp and wide in anger.

As an afterthought, Ganon reached his hand upwards towards his face, each movement precise and sure, as he wiped the blood from his face. Staring at his crimson finger, he nearly smiled, before gripping his massive claymore with both hands.

With a snarl, he stepped forward, "Or, she can die."

Link had hardly a second before he had the Master Sword raised above his head – out of pure instinct than anything else. Ganon's claymore came crashing down – he felt it long before he saw it. Suddenly, Link was on the defensive, and was being pushed back, back, back, as Ganon lunged inwards with each stab, each slice, each brutal and unforgiving assault. Link met each one with a parry of his own, but each staggering assault came quicker, each one came stronger after the other. Normally, he was much faster, but he was distracted, sending glances out towards the Hyrule Fields every spare second that he got, wondering just how far away Teba would be able to take Zelda, speculating how his allies were faring against the skeletal monsters, pondering –

White-hot pain laced its way up his leg, and Link cried out as he barreled out of the way as Ganon's claymore came crashing down on the ground where he had been not a second prior. Sparing a glance towards his leg, he wished he had not. Hot, red blood oozed out of a long, deep slice that went from his calf, up the side of his knee and to his thigh. Each movement throbbed violently, and Link could not help as he limped out of the way yet again, growing slower and slower against Ganon's increasingly aggressive attacks. He shook his head, willing himself to power through the pain as he gripped the Master Sword tighter, his steel clashing against Ganon's.

"Perhaps, though," Ganon grit, "I won't kill you first. No, maybe I'll leave you just barely alive. On the verge of death, so painful, you'll be begging for me to kill you," Ganon lunged again, his blade digging into the earth just a moment after Link barrel rolled away, "Yes, I think I'll do that, and I'll make you watch as I walk over to that little pathetic camp over there," Link's head whipped backwards, to the clear other side of the Hyrule Fields, near the destroyed entrance to the Great Plateau, "Oh, they think they're being so sneaky, hiding out in that little shell of a town over there. But I can see everything. I can see that foolish Rito soldier tending to her wounds. I can see the nimble Zoran woman about to attempt to heal her. Had she any talent like that pathetic fish I killed off a hundred years ago, she might have a chance-"

"Don't speak of Mipha that way," Link growled, lunging towards Ganon again.

Ganon merely flicked the Master Sword off with his own, and Link went stumbling, "You know it's rude to interrupt," Ganon laughed, before continuing, "Now where was I – oh yes. I'll march on over towards that little camp, dragging you behind in the grass behind me. It might leave a trail of blood, but I hardly think that will be noticeable: it'll match my new Hyrule quite well. I'll drag you over there and make you watch as I kill that Rito and that Zora – as it stands, they will be of no use to me. Then, right before I kill you, I'll make you watch as I kill your precious little princess – letting my malice engulf her as her screams -"

Link staggered forward on uneven legs, in Ganon's moment of distraction. He held the Master Sword in both hands, stumbling forward even as his leg throbbed and threatened to give out on him. He cried out as pain shot up his leg, the muscles pulsating and withering under his weight. His eyes met with Ganon's briefly as Ganon turned back towards him, the burnt out village now completely forgotten – of the graves of Hyrule's citizens from a century past. Link took one final step forward, momentum more than anything pushing him forward.

And plunged the Master Sword deep into Ganon's chest.

Link stumbled off to the side, his momentum dragging him to the blood soaked ground. He felt lightheaded, noticing with a sort of grimace that much of the blood on the ground was his. His limbs buzzed, his fingertips and toes growing numb. He looked up, his eyes blurring as he took in the sight of Ganon, with the Master Sword shining vividly, protruding out of his chest.

Ganon was still, staring down at the Master Sword, his eyes narrowing. From the wound, malice began to seep out and stain his chest, dripping downwards and mixing with the dirt.

Then, he laughed.

It was strained, which was the only thing comforting as Link struggled to lift himself onto his shaking legs. His muscles screamed against his weight, threatening to give out beneath him. Ganon turned towards him then, his eyes alight with fire.

"You think you've won," Ganon seethed, his chest heaving with each labored breath, "This looks familiar to me, too. It's just the end of the cycle for me, isn't it? This isn't over. I'll be back, and you know this, too. I'll be back, and one of these days, you'll fall."

"No, you won't," Link breathed, as his arm began to glow in that brilliant emerald light. He raised his arm out towards Ganon, his fingers splayed and dripping with the ancient magic.

"What do you mean I won't?"

"It's like I said," Link breathed, bracing himself, "Its power isn't finished yet."

"What do you think you're doing?" Ganon demanded, the waver in his voice nearly invisible, "Going to seal me away? You saw how that worked out for you and your little princess. My calamity will ravage this land every ten thousand years until the seal is broken once again."

"Not quite," Link breathed, closing his eyes as he felt the world spin violently around him, the magic threatening to topple him over, "What the Zonai gave me is, indeed, a gift. I'm sending you out of this world. No longer will you be able to threaten our lands. No longer will you threaten our people. No longer will you threaten Zelda. Without you in our world, the cycle will be broken. And no longer will you be reborn, time and time again."

"You can't do that," Ganon said, his eyes growing wide as he tried to grip the Master Sword in his hands. Instantly, he recoiled, the Master Sword hissing and burning against his malice soaked hands. He stumbled to one knee, gasping, "There's no way."

"Once again," Link whispered, "You're wrong."

Then, the magic exploded from Link's hand, dissipating around him in small wisps. It sprung forward, wrapping its tendrils around Ganon's withering form. The strings of magic tugged and pulled, wrapping themselves tightly around Ganon and pinning him. The tendrils shimmered and sparkled, spinning brilliantly before they solidified in the air.

From behind Ganon, they formed a portal, beautiful and menacing as it centered into a great big void. The magic ebbed and flowed, swirling like a great big inferno, to some place: any place else. Link wasn't sure where this world was that he was sending Ganon to, but he trusted the Zonai and their ancient magic to send him to a place where he would never be allowed to hurt anyone ever again. Perhaps it would be another world that made Ganon look like the good guy. The portal propelled the air around him, a violent gust throughout the fields, uprooting dirt and sand in its storm.

And then, Ganon was being pulled into it. It was like a tornado mercilessly pulling him in.

He struggled against the current, pushing and pulling against the ancient Zonai magic. The strings, like an unforgiving knot, held firm, and dragged him back, back, back, into the portal – into the void.

The winds whipped around Link, threatening to topple him over to the ground. It blew violently across the Hyrule Fields, causing the skeletal monsters to topple over and fall apart. The soldiers ran for cover. They hid behind half destroyed walls of long forgotten settlements, holding onto anything firmly rooted into the ground.

"No!" Ganon snarled, struggling against the restraints against his arms, against his legs, against his chest, "This can't be. Who are you to think you can break this curse? Who are you to think you can stop the cycle? I'll be back, and you know it."

"Perhaps," Link whispered, "But until then, I'll rest easy knowing you're gone from this world. I'll be glad to know that this world can finally be at peace."

With that, Link pushed the magic forward, feeling the last bits of the ancient magic drip from his soul. With one final thrust, Link sent Ganon – with the Master Sword still lodged deep in his chest – stumbling into the portal. The last thing he saw were his eyes – dark and red and livid – before the gate closed.

Then, it was calm on the fields: the wind died down, until silence remained.

Throughout the Hyrule Fields, skeletal monsters vanished in a puff of dust, a faint purple cloud dissipating before vanishing all together. From around him, Zora and Rito, Goron and Gerudo, all alike turned to him, their faces ranging from awe to disbelief. Then, one person began to cheer, and that one person turned to two, and before long, all over the fields, people were whistling and cheering and clapping and hugging and crying. They had finally done it.

Ganon was gone for good.

Link felt relief. Link felt joy.

Link felt the world spin around him violently, as his vision blackened at the edges.

"Hey, hey, hey," a voice said, his tone firm as he felt a pair of arms hook themselves under his shoulders, "I've got you."

"Zelda," Link managed, as his legs stumbled and caught beneath him, "I need to see her."

"She's with one of our best healers," the voice said, and Link only vaguely realized that it was Prince Sidon that was holding him up. He all but carried him across the fields towards the princess, "I'll take you to her. But you've lost a lot of blood. You need to have one of our healers tend to you, too."

"Not before they heal Zelda," Link ground out, as he saw a flash of blonde hair on a bedroll in a shell of a destroyed house. He took off, a wave of adrenaline fueling him forward, and pushed himself out of the Prince's arms, stumbling next to Zelda.

"Zel," Link whispered, his legs collapsing beneath him as he knelt next to her. She was laid out on a bedroll, her blonde hair splayed out behind her like a halo. He took her hand in his, his other hand reaching up towards her hairline.

Ganon's monsters may have dissipated, but his malice was still present: festering and oozing.

"His malice," Link whispered, his eyes growing wide in panic, "Why is his malice still here? He's gone, his monsters are gone, his influence is gone, why is his malice still here?"

The Zora healer on the other side of Zelda only lowered her head, not able to meet his gaze, "I had hoped that, had you won, the malice would have disappeared, as well. Most cases I see are acute. I've never seen a malice infestation so severe."

"The best healers come from Zora's Domain," Link argued, his eyes blurring as his voice caught, "Sidon said that you were one of the best healers."

"I'm afraid that many of our practices died with my sister," Prince Sidon whispered, a webbed hand clenching against his chest, "She was the one who had invented most of the modern practices we have today. Many of the techniques that made her exceptional, however, she had yet to pass on to any other healer."

"So that's it, then?" Link asked, "There's nothing we can do?"

"We've done everything we can do."

"Link…"

"Zelda."

Link hunched over, his hand squeezing hers tightly, holding her face close to his. He knew not how to be brave in this moment. He had fought Lynels and Taluses and Ganon for the love of Hylia, and yet knew not how to be brave in this moment. His face threatened to crumble under the severity of the situation, and it was all that he could do to squeeze Zelda's hand even tighter.

He felt Zelda's other delicate hand brush lightly against his cheek, brushing away a tear that threatened to cascade down his face, "Did you beat him?"

A laugh bubbled up through his tears, and he treaded his fingers through her hair, "Yeah. I did."

Zelda nodded, taking in a shaking breath, "Good. Then we've done what we need to do."

"Zelda," Link whispered, his face so closer to hers their noses brushed against one another, "You're going to be just fine. I promise, we will figure out how to make you better."

"Link," Zelda said, a tone of finality to it, "It's okay."

Like a dam bursting, any emotions he had managed to keep together burst into a thousand pieces, shattering and scattering all around them. His walls crumbled down, and he sobbed, holding her desperately in his arms, paying no matter to the malice that was still burning and oozing. It didn't matter anymore. They had come so far, and won the final battle, but at the end of the day, Link had still lost.

"I don't know what I'll do without you," Link breathed, bringing his face up to hers, cupping her cheeks, "I love you so much."

"And I love you," Zelda said, bringing her lips up to his in a chaste kiss, "You know I do. You know I always will."

Outside, the birds were chirping. The rays of dawn were just peaking over the horizon. It was the dawn of a new era, the first morning with no threat from Ganon in any capacity.

And he was to do it without her.

It was an impossible task. How did the princess survive in their last encounter with Ganon? What did the hero have to do to save her?

Hadn't he already done enough?

_The power already lies within you: clear your mind and will it to be true._

He almost didn't hear it, over the ringing in his ears. It was that same voice that had whispered those words to him, what felt so long ago as he had first began gaining control of these powers. Could it really be so simple? It was never that simple, never that easy.

That being said, Link had nothing else to lose.

Link shook his head, steeling himself as he pressed a kiss into her forehead. Then, he surged his hand deep into the malice on her neck, much to the dismayed shouts of the Zora around him. But he didn't care. Zelda didn't even notice, her eyes having shut, with cheeks pale and sweat dripping down her brow. Link didn't even know what he was doing, but he knew he had to try something. He cleared his mind, and reached down deep within him, desperately searching for any ounce of power left from his fight with Ganon.

The effect was exponential. Glowing green tendrils surged outwards from his hand and encapsulated the malice. While the malice oozed and burned, the ancient Zonai magic soothed and cleansed. It swirled around her neck and chest, and Link saw through squinted eyes as the malice fought back, pushing back against his powers. He pushed further, crying out as he dug and carved any remaining power from deep within himself. He felt dizzy, his world going black as he fought with every ounce of power that he had.

Then, like the blowing out of a candle, the magic was gone. Link looked at his hand, no longer glowing that brilliant emerald, no matter how hard he tried. The world careened around him and he fell down beside Zelda, his chest heaving and panting, as the world grew black around the edges.

In a twisted way, he thought maybe this was for the best: If she were to die, he wouldn't be too far behind her, anyways.

Then, a gasp from beside him, though he could hardly lift his head to investigate. It didn't matter: he had done all he could. She would be gone soon, if she wasn't already.

Then, he felt small, delicate hands cupping his face.

The Zora's hands did not feel like that.

"Link… _Link_."

Link knew that majestic voice anywhere.

Link opened his eyes with a gasp, his eyes struggling to focus on the golden blur before him. Was this what the heavens looked like? Had he finally made it? He had honestly not thought that it would have been so quick.

But as Zelda sharpened in clarity in front of him, so did the world around her. From behind her, the sun was beginning to rise over the Dueling Peaks, casting the land in brilliant shades of orange and gold. From around them, people began to migrate closer in, to see for themselves that their hero and princess lived.

Zelda was entirely devoid of any trace of malice. In fact, she was glowing.

She smiled, dimming out the sun.

And Link surged forward, capturing her lips with his.


	24. Epilogue

Malice

By: dontwaitupxx

* * *

Epilogue

* * *

Zelda breathed in the cool, Kakariko Village air, and sighed. It had been a long time since she felt calmed by the simple, mundane task of breathing. Now, though, following their final fight with Ganon on the Hyrule Fields nearly two weeks ago, she finally felt that she was at peace again.

That being said, following that final battle, the recovery for both her and Link had not been easy. The malice had been like a poison: oozing and burning, and it took a while for Zelda to gain the energy to be able to make it downstairs on her own without needing to rest. The recovery was still slow and steady, as she sat on the stairs to Impa's home, soaking in the sunlight on her veranda before night fell once again.

She took those first few days to really enjoy the simplicity of the little village. She listened as the Sheikah rose before the dawn and went about their day. She laughed as the kids ran and played, chasing each other up the hills that led towards the Great Fairy Fountain. She lost herself in the sounds of the roaring waterfalls from behind Impa's home. She breathed it all in, and she smiled.

Link took a week before he finally woke next to her, on a bedroll hastily made as to not separate them. His blood loss had been severe, and Prince Sidon had made a comment about how he didn't know how the young hero had still been standing on his own two feet. When he woke, he was only conscious for a few minutes before he fell back into a quiet sleep, and Zelda had to wonder if it had less to do with his injuries and more to do with his pure exhaustion.

They had fought a demon, for the second time in their young lives, and lived to tell the tale. They had earned a bit of rest.

In the first few minutes of Link's alertness, Zelda had wrapped her arms around him. In the joy of seeing him awake and alive, with those blue orbs staring back at her longingly, she did not take into consideration any still healing injuries he may have still had as she crushed him to her chest.

Though, if he felt any aches or pains, he didn't voice them, as he held her just as fiercely before he stumbled back to sleep.

Over the course of the next few days, they spoke and planned out their next move following their recovery. It came as no surprise to either of them that both of them believed that their first course of action should be to make their way back to Hateno Village once they were well enough to travel. It was their home, and their peace that they had there prior to Ganon's resurrection was short lived. It was about time they continued where they had left off.

The various leaders from Hyrule had escorted them from the Hyrule Fields to Kakariko Village following the final battle. Their company was short lived as all of them had to handle the aftermath of the final battle. Casualties had not been merciful for any of the races, and they had to deal with their wounded and bury their dead. They had to offer condolences and aid to their families, and they had to carry on, in this post-Calamity world, for the second time.

However, all of the races had made it perfectly clear to Zelda and Impa prior to their departure that they were interested in discussing the next steps as Hyrule moved forward: what it meant for the races and what it meant for Zelda in particular. There was not a sense of animosity regarding Zelda coming to power, but perhaps they could sense that Zelda did not desire the throne.

The Royal Family was long since dead, and any semblance of a monarchy had been destroyed and forgotten about for over a century. Most of the citizens of Hyrule had been born into a world without a ruling monarchy. Instead, they had grown long accustomed to the governing bodies that ruled each hold. Still, the Hylians were left scattered, with only the majors and elders of each surviving settlement managing each village. There was no leader present to unify them.

That being said, Zelda was keeping herself busy while Link recovered devising plans for their new Hyrule. While she held no desire to rule over her country, she still wanted to help on a smaller scale. Perhaps instead of a ruling government overseeing the smaller providences, each province could continue to self govern and the Hylians would be no exception. What the Hylians really needed was a leader amongst them. With the threat eliminated once and for all, trade routes could be reestablished, and each of the individual providences could flourish.

She devised plans for infrastructure, based on the crumbling bridges and towns she had seen in her travels with Link. Certainly, she wished to see those bridges rebuilt, and to see those towns inhabited once again. It would take a long time: the Hylians had taken the largest hit in the Great Calamity a century prior, and it would take time for their populations to grow once again to be able to inhabit the long lost villages of Central Hyrule. But if anything, it just showed their resilience, and proved that the Hylians of her country would be able to once again rise from the ashes. She knew, though, that those things took time, but that was fine with Zelda: she knew how to wait and be patient from her battle with the Calamity.

She thought back to the little village in Akkala that Link had mentioned to her so long ago. This village was built from the ground up, and had villagers from every province in Hyrule. Each race had an equal say in legislation, and the town had since grown prosperous in its culture and civilization. She wanted to use Tarrey Town as a template for future villages throughout Central Hyrule. She wanted to create metropolitan cities from every walk of life.

It was an ambitious goal, she knew, but one that she felt that her citizens would embrace over the next few years to come. Though she had no plans to rule over them, she still felt the urge and ownership of them, calling them hers in her country. She felt a certain sense of pride over the lands that she fought so hard to save. The unprecedented peace her citizens faced was well earned and deserved.

The morning of their departure, as Link was finally well enough for the trip to Hateno, Impa motioned Zelda towards her, a knowing look on her face, "You've had time to think about what the other province leaders said to you?"

Zelda nodded, "I have. I've had a lot to think about over the last couple of weeks about how the future of Hyrule might look."

"So then I would be correct in assuming that you will not assume the throne."

It was not a question, but a factual statement. Even still, with her skin long since withered and her eyes dulled with age, Impa was nothing if not observant. Zelda could not help but smile as she looked into the long since wrinkled eyes of her oldest friend, "It is not mine to take," she admitted, "and it is not the life that I foresee for myself any longer. I remember speaking to you before, after Ganon's initial defeat, and I said I wanted to establish the monarchy and rebuild the kingdom… while the former isn't true any longer, the latter certainly still is."

"Princess, you've always been one for tinkering and rebuilding," Impa said, a light in her eye, "As much as I do wish to see the Royal Family ruling over Hyrule once again, even an old hag such as myself must understand that the world we live in today is vastly different from the world one hundred years ago."

"It is," Zelda said, softly, "It's still a bit of a shock, sometimes, seeing places that I remember once thriving now overgrown and mere rubble. However, it has gotten easier."

Impa nodded, the corners of her lips turning upwards, "Indeed, it does get easier. So, you are to head to Hateno Village once again with your knight today. What do you plan to do after that?"

"I have plans for the crumbling infrastructure throughout Hyrule. I plan to speak with each of the leaders of the provinces and Hylian villages to work out plans to reconstruct the bridges and roads throughout Hyrule," Zelda said, "It may be difficult, given that there isn't an overruling body to delegate these projects, but I think that with a bit of convincing that the threat is gone for good, and that trade routes can now be reestablished, each of the leaders will want these bridges and their roads to be fixed."

"Indeed, I think they will," Impa said, "But keep in mind, even these things take time, and even with the leaders wanting to get these things done, they may lack the manpower required to get them done. The Calamity one hundred years ago wiped out many Hylians who would have done the job, and the final battle against Ganon two weeks ago caused each of the races hardships as well. It may take some time."

"I can live with that," Zelda whispered, "I've learned a strong lesson in patience over the years," at the, Impa barked out a laugh, "I think I can wait a few more to see things come together."

"That's going to leave a lot of down time then, for you and your knight," Impa said, her tone dry but her eyebrows lifting oh so slightly, "I swear, if I hear from Purah of little fair haired babies crawling about in the next year –"

"Impa!" Zelda's face heated up, as she looked around the small room, mortified.

"Oh hush," Impa carried on, cackling, "I was going to say you had better bring them to Kakariko for a visit! Might be a good time then to get to work on fixing up the Kakariko Bridge. It still stands, but it could use some renovations. And speaking of my sister – you give her a good slap on the wrist for me regarding that anti aging rune."

"I hear she's figured out a way to reverse that once more."

"Well good – she looked ridiculous, and hardly acted her age."

"Well, that's because she _wasn't_ –_"_

"You ready to go?"

Link was by her side then, having materialized out of thin air. How long had he been there? Surely he hadn't heard Impa's mortifying comment.

Zelda nodded, lifting herself onto her feet and giving a nod towards the Sheikah Elder, "Thank you, once again, for your everlasting hospitality, Impa."

"The pleasure is all mine, your majesty," Impa replied back, "Now, you remember what I said! If I get word from Purah in a year that – "

"Yeah, yeah, understood, Impa!" Zelda said, swiftly grabbing Link's hand and her bag from him as she rushed him out the front door of Impa's house, before her knight could catch wind of Impa's sly comments.

"What was that all about?" Link asked, catching her waist as they descended down the stairs of Impa's home.

"Oh, nothing," Zelda said, "Just a senile old lady spouting nonsense. I swear, she's acting more and more like Purah in her old age."

"I heard that!" Came the muffled response from behind the closed door of Impa's home. Zelda squeaked and tugged Link the rest of the way down the stairs, her face turning bright red.

"If you say so," Link said smartly, his eyes flickering towards the elder's home.

"How are you feeling?" Zelda asked, her eyes venturing down towards his leg, where she knew his biggest injury was.

"Today is good," Link replied, stretching out his arms above his head, "I feel less sore than I did yesterday. I think today is a good day to make our way towards Hateno."

"I'm ready to get back."

"Me too," he smiled, stealing a quick kiss, "If you wait here, I'll go fetch the horses."

Zelda nodded, and Link took her bag from her and headed towards the stables. Since their arrival back to Kakariko two weeks prior, a couple of the Sheikah had ventured out west towards the Serenne Stable to fetch their horses, which Link had stabled there indefinitely. Now, they were back within Kakariko, and upon seeing Link for the first time in weeks, both horses nickered and shoved their great faces into his chest. Even his horses could not help but love him.

Zelda smiled, before she found herself wandering off towards Tetla Lake, and as she rounded the corner, the remains of Hyrule Castle came into view.

Free from Ganon's hold, the ancient Zonai city had lowered back into the ground, bringing Hyrule Castle back to ground level. However, both the rising and the lowering of the castle had wrought immense damage to the architecture. Though Zelda hadn't seen it from any closer than just outside of Castle Town, she was certain that their was irreversible damage caused to the castle foundations. She knew that if she, or if anyone ever wanted to try and rebuild the castle, they would do better to start over entirely, perhaps on an entirely new piece of land. She couldn't help but wonder where might be a good place for a castle should a future Zelda ever decide to reinstate the monarchy. Would this new ruling family even need a castle? Or would it simply be symbolic more than anything?

Regardless, all of those questions would be left for another Zelda in another life, though the researcher in her could not help but speculate at potential areas for a new castle. The most prominent area that came to mind for her was up on the Great Plateau, near the edge, just off to the left of the Temple of Time. There was a large area of open land there, just beside the ruins of the Eastern Abbey. Perhaps a future Zelda could begin there…

And with it, perhaps the restoration of the Temple of Time would be in order. Indeed, she thought back to visits with her mother and father to the temple as a child, with its high vaulting ceilings and its incredible Goddess Statue deep within. She knew even as a small child that it was a holy place, and holy still – and deserved to be brought back to its former glory.

She heard footsteps from behind her and looked around. As always, her knight was there, and as always, he smiled.

"The horses are ready, Zel," Link said, "Are you?"

Wasn't that the question of the century.

Zelda nodded, "Yes, I'm ready."

Together, then, they walked back into Kakariko proper and climbed onto their horses. The familiar horse nickered beneath her, and Zelda could not help it as a smile blossomed on her face. Finally – some normalcy after the chaos.

They exited Kakariko with a wave and a promise to visit soon, and headed out the southern entrance, along the cliffs near Lake Siela. They took the trip slow – they were in no rush – and simply took the time to enjoy the brisk air amid the sunshine. At the pace they were going at, they would make it to Hateno by nightfall. But that was fine.

Zelda knew to mentally brace herself for the trip through Fort Hateno. One of her missions moving forward was also to disband and destroy any remnants of the Guardians. Though, she knew that it was easier said than done. It would be many years before all of them were gone, and many years before she would have the help required to move and destroy them. Her people were still wary and scarred from the Guardians, and she didn't blame them: she was too. But she knew that even if they were still active, they were not malicious at their core: that was Ganon's doing.

As they crossed the Kakariko Bridge and the first Guardian remains came in sight, however, Zelda was shocked to find that her heart did not begin racing as fast as she thought – nor did she find herself short of breath as her vision tunneled. No, as she looked onwards at the destroyed fort and the littered remains, she found almost a peace within herself.

The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and for whatever reason, the Guardians blended in well with the scenery. It was almost like the ground was engulfing them, as the grass grew high and moss covered the ancient Sheikah metals. The Guardians were one of many things long extinct: a relic from the age of the Calamity. However, it was something that could no longer haunt and trouble her.

In fact, she had hardly even noticed that they had passed through the gates of Fort Hateno, had it not been for the Cliffs of Quince blocking out the setting sun. The fort was behind her, and the next time she passed through, it would be to dismantle them.

She felt a sort of giddiness bubble up in her at the thought of finally – _finally_ being able to take apart these machines piece by piece, to see how they had once functioned. Prior to the Calamity, such a thing was unheard of: they needed every last one of them in working order. That being said, she had no intention of getting them back to working order – that was something she was happy to never have to revisit – but for academic purposes, she was ecstatic to find out how the ancient Sheikah had made these work so flawlessly – and for over ten thousand years, as well.

"You're thinking about dismantling a Guardian, aren't you?"

Zelda looked up from her daydream to find Link smirking at her from his horse beside her.

"Who, me?"

"No, I was talking to that tree over there."

"Oh hush," Zelda admonished, "What makes you think that I was thinking about dismantling a Guardian?"

"You got that light in your eye whenever you get excited."

"So?"

"And you kept looking behind you towards the fort twiddling your fingers."

"That doesn't prove anything."

"But am I wrong?"

Zelda's response was to stick her tongue out, and Link laughed.

"Perhaps I was," Zelda mused, "But anyways I'm excited to get back to the house. It feels like an age since we've been back there."

"It has," Link agreed, his eyes flickering towards the right. They were beginning to pass by Lake Jarrah, "Our last day here in Hateno, we were just over there," Link pointed, "Having lunch on that cool, autumn day. That was the day you kissed me."

"I seem to remember it the other way around. _You _kissed _me."_

"Either way, you somehow found it in you that day to love a man like me."

"A foolish mistake on my part, really," Zelda laughed, leaning in to steal a kiss on his cheek, "That was also the day that I had cut my hair."

"I seem to remember it the other way around," Link shot right back, "You didn't cut your hair – I did."

"Because you insisted I would mess it up."

"Better than to take that chance! Either way, it turned out nice."

"Yes, it did," Zelda said, grasping at the ends of her hair, "It's grown a bit since that day. I might want to cut it again soon."

"You don't want to grow it out?"

"I don't think so," Zelda said, tossing it back, "It gets in the way too much. Easier to manage shorter."

"Well, that's convenient for me," Link said, "I like it short."

They made their way into Hateno Village just as night fell. Zelda could not help but smile at the twinkling lights coming from their sweet little village. This felt like home to her – the little village with their little people. If any had fled the village upon Ganon's return, it would seem that most had returned. She could smell the scents of supper cooking over the fire, and hear the sounds of chatter and the sounds of children giggling. Link took the lead as they rounded towards the right, heading across the bridge leading to their little Hateno home.

Their little home was just as they had left it before their journey across Hyrule. Link helped Zelda down from her horse, and as he went to go stable them, he handed her the key to the front door.

Gingerly, she opened the front door, and it swung open on its hinges with a creek. Inside, it was all the same, albeit there was a fine layer of dust covering the floors and table. But that was okay – dust could always be managed. The moonlight poured in from the front door, casting the room in blue shadows. From the back of the room, the Champion's weapons shined magnificently from where they hung. Zelda could practically feel the Champions around her, holding her steady with their one final goodbye.

Then Link was there, his arm just on her lower back. He was staring too – he must have felt the same energy that she had felt. It was over – it was all over – and though the fight had not been without losses, it paved the way for a new generation to move forward.

Zelda pulled Link in close, and he responded back just as desperately, pulling her tight against him and tucking her head under his chin. Zelda breathed him in – feeling his skin next to hers and his heartbeat steady under her cheek.

"We won," Zelda whispered against his skin, and she felt his arms tighten around her waist.

"Yeah," he whispered back, placing his lips against her temple, "We won."

The worst of winter was past them now, though it was still cold in their little village beneath the peaks of Lanayru. Link went about the house, lighting candles and setting up a long overdue fire in the fireplace. The villagers would certainly notice that the little house across the bridge was alight once more, and people would talk and say how coincidental it was that Link and that blonde haired Hylian girl had left just as the towers and shrines had sunk into the ground, but then returned as Hyrule Castle finally lowered back to the ground. But, they would leave it at that, saying that while it was interesting to say the least, at least the world was at peace once more – and trade routes were open and those Bokoblins down by the beach were gone.

They would know to give Link and that Hylian girl a few days to settle in before they crossed the bridge to welcome them back home and ask them how their trip was. They wouldn't pry – of course. Well, the gossips in town might – but they knew that Link would just laugh it off and ask them about something else. And they knew that more likely than not, Link and that Hylian girl would be off on some new adventure as soon as they were settled in and feeling restless. That boy could hardly sit still, and if he had somehow roped that girl into his adventures, she was likely the same way.

Then that little house across the bridge would grow dark once more for a couple of weeks – and then they would return once more – their smiles lighting up the place once more.

And Zelda was more than happy to just be that 'Hylian girl'.

They slept that night huddled together in the loft, and she woke to find that the sun had long since breached the horizon, wrapped up in Link's arms, as he continued to sleep without a care in the world.

Zelda realized in that moment that none of it had been a dream.

They had finally done it.

Their struggle had spanned from over a century prior, when the fortuneteller had predicted the return of Calamity Ganon. But now, finally – _finally _– after everything they had been through, she could finally say that the battle was won, and she had her hero with her after everything she had been through.

Zelda breathed in the cool, Hateno Village air, and sighed. After a century of fighting, and then finally winning, Zelda finally felt like she had won.

* * *

_fin._


End file.
